Fable of Megastan

This story was written in 2006 when I was working at a Defense Department think tank in the belly of the Bush Beltway. I was amazed by how little the people around me knew about the Middle East, even the so-called 'experts.' I had just come back from a year and a half working as a journalist in the Middle East, and the general understanding in Washington had very little to do with the reality I ha...