As liberals, many of us liked to make the point that back in the 1980s, the United States supplied Saddam Hussein with weapons (including chemical weapons) to wage war against our then enemy, Iran.  Prior to that, the United States supplied the Shah of Iran with countless weapons systems and ignored the obvious problems facing that country - that he was a dictator whose rise fueled the corrupt and the elite of his country.

Recently, we've come across comments from Senator Obama's pastor.  While put incredibly crudely, the point he was making was that 9/11 was the fault of America's own policies.  This, too, misses the point.  We are not the only complex and flawed actors in the world, and the history of American intervention in the world is grossly exaggerated.  Yes, we dropped a nuclear bomb in Japan, but that was to scare Japan in ending a war that they seemed to be unwilling to concede.  Yes, we supported Israel (a policy with which I agree) to the detriment of the Palestinians.

The cause of 9/11 was a combination of historical arrogance in American foreign policy (which we seem too eager to forget) and incredible naivety emanating from foreigners about the scope of American power.  Take, for example, Iran.  Their hatred of the United States stems from the fact that in 1952, we overthrew Iranian President Mohammad Mosaddeq for his plan to nationalize the Iranian oil industry.  This plan, in conjunction with the fact that he received a great deal of support from the communist party in Iran fueled fears of a Soviet satellite state in Iran - which led the CIA into action.  We overthrew a democratic government and installed the Shah of Iran, a dictator who we thought would be favorable to the US.  While he certainly provided us with oil, he was all to eager to blame problems within his country on the US while holding onto billions in oil revenues and hiking prices whenever politically feasible.  Eventually, a combination of pro-democracy forces, Shi'ite conservatives and students overthew the government and it led to the supremacy of the Ayatollah.  Obviously, this history is obviously far more complex than a 1-paragraph blurb.

If you ask Americans about the history of US-Iranian relations, I doubt they'd be able to mention a single thing I just said.  In their view, Iran irrationally hates the US because they are a country of 'hate.'  I'm simplifying, of course, but few can recount the true history.

If you ask Iranians about the history of US-Iranian relations, they'd be too happy to recount an exaggerated and distorted version of American influence in the days of the shah, and how America controlled his every move.  In short, in their view, the shah was the cause of their problems and the US controlled the every move of the shah.  Of course this is lunacy - the US had to beg the shah to lower oil prices in the late 1970s, a move which he refused to do.

The point, of course, is that the legacy of 9/11 is more complex than Fox news makes it out to be.  Many of our flawed policies in the region (which were distorted for political gain by Al Qaeda and similar organizations) clearly had an impact on 9/11.  We are not the only flawed actors.  Clearly, there are far worse actors in the world.  And in my opinion, the United States has been the greatest hope for democracy, equality and economic rights that the world has ever seen.  But that does not make us perfect.

Why must it always be so simplified?  Can't we raise the level of debate in this country?