SDAI-Tech1's history only goes back as far as Truman because that's the first Democrat he can connect to the Middle East by even the thinnest of threads.

The truth is very different, and also considerably more interesting, because to find the truth you have to go back to World War I, "the war to end all wars", and the way that the victorious allies carved up the Middle East, which has often been called "a peace to end all peace". At the heart of it all you find the British and their deadly combination of arrogance, cluelessness, and duplicity, as they maneuvered to not only defeat the Ottoman Empire by agitating its Arab population, but to screw their ally France out of its territorial ambitions in places like Syria; all the while desperately log rolling to try to hold their empire together for a few more decades.

In pursuit of the truth you'll get to read about colorful characters like TE Lawrence, the celebrated "Lawrence of Arabia" who "went native" and infected the Arabs with nationalistic ambitions based on false promises by the British of postwar independence. You might want to read "Setting the Desert on Fire", about Lawrence, or his own autobiography, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". I'm currently reading a history titled "A Peace to End All Peace" by David Fromkin, and I looked for it because it's highly regarded by other historians; you might start there.

But Jody, the one thing you really ought to avoid is getting your information from partisan sources like Techie. He's not interested in educating you, nor is he interested in the story for its own sake. He merely wants to sow discord and score cheap political points. Forget Truman, he has almost nothing to do with the story; and instead I urge you to do your own research, read history and biographies, and make up your own mind.