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The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq conjure up eerily familiar specters, the continuities and specificities of contemporary imperialism in relation to its late 19th-century forebear, both framed in terms of liberal civilizing missions, discourses of regime change and nation-building, and projects of reconstruction and development spearheaded by the Bechtel Corporation. This is a time not of "Jihad" vs. "McWorld" but a complex interplay of forces termed "McJihad." A forensic delving into the Faustian bargains entered into by oil companies in the Middle East, backed up by the United States military, not only sheds new light on the present conjuncture, it also serves as an antidote to the jockstrap-snapping excesses of Empire.