The idea for '' The Mirage '' came when Matt Ruff was asked by a TV producer , who was a fan of his novel '' Bad Monkeys '' , whether he had an idea for a TV series . In an interview , Matt Ruff said " I ’d been wanting to write something about the September 11 attacks and the War on Terror that would offer an unusual perspective while still being an engaging story , and I hit on this idea of setting a thriller in a world where the U.S. and the Middle East had traded places . That concept was a little too radical for television , so I decided to do it as a novel . " '' The Mirage '' is set in an alternate history version of the year 2009 . Much of the back-story is revealed in excerpts from the Library of Alexandria , this world 's version of Wikipedia funded by Muammar Gaddafi . A politically united Arabia ( analogous to the real Arab League ) , declared independence from the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century and established itself as the United Arab States . Throughout the 20th century , Arabia grew to occupy most of the Middle East and North Africa , and northern East Africa . Arabia intervened decisively in World War II on the Allied side , culminating in Adolf Hitler 's beheading at Nuremberg in 1946 . The world 's only Jewish state was afterwards established in northeast Germany , with its capital in Berlin
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
The Mirage (Ruff novel)