AP Photo

I’m not much good at timing.  I was visiting Jordan on a lecture tour when the Israelis assassinated Hamas founder Sheikh Yassin.  Amman closed down and much of my program had to be canceled; Americans weren’t welcome on campuses where student groups were mourning the sheikh and vowing revenge.  I was in Indonesia when the Israelis invaded Lebanon; I was able to go ahead with the program, but all the audiences wanted to discuss was the war and America’s responsibility for Israeli crimes.  I first came to Pakistan about the time then-Senator Obama called for escalating the drone strikes in Pakistani territory; I was in Turkey when his endorsement of the Armenian genocide resolution (a position he wisely dropped once in office) created a firestorm in...