The whole Middle East problem is easily explained in David Fromkin's wonderful book, "A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East" that covers the immediate aftermath of WWI and how it all went wrong in creating the nation states of the region.
I think I read that book when I saw Lawrence of Arabia.
Well, I think we know that the problems were the breakup of European colonialism there and the collapse of the Ottoman empire. Making nation-states out of bunch of tribes is still causing trouble. You've got Erdogan in Turkey who's a dictator, the tribes in Afghanistan who've been killing each other for years, Syria has Assad another murderer and about forty different groups from nationalists, Kurds looking for a homeland, terrorists, and infiltrators who all hate each other, Iraq with the Kurds, Sunnis and Shias who also have hated each other since Muhammad walked the sands, Israel with their nukes and the Palestinians also looking for a homeland, the religious inspired mullahs in Iran, the Saudi King or is he still a prince who strangles and dismembers his enemies. The Arabs hate the Persians who hate the Arabs and everyone hates the Jews. What a mess and cast of characters.
But does America have to be the one to resolve it? Going into Iraq to give them democracy or for whatever reason created a worse mess. And while the SHias finally got their just desserts, they're killing each other in Baghdad all over again. Why? Because the government is corrupt. Well, who would have thought that would happen? And while I think we had to go after al Qaeda after they attacked us on 9-11, it looks like after 18 years we're going to leave Afghanistan and the Taliban will take over again. Well, as long as they don;t come back over here, it's not our business. In fact, let the entire ME sort things out themselves.
Worth mentioning especially here that Lawrence of Arabia was one of the most beautifully photographed movies of all time. David Lean did a superb job. I watched it again recently on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). But Comcast my cable and internet supplier just took TCM away from my cable plan and now want extra money for that channel. But that's another thread.