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ARTICLES
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Last week's Saudi-inspired announcement by the international oil cartel OPEC that crude oil production would be increased by two million barrels a day to help stabilise soaring prices was a godsend for the corrupt and decadent House of Saud.
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There is a sense of déjà vu about the CIA’s misjudgement of Saddam’s unconventional weapons and what has followed the invasion of Iraq. The agency’s aim for complete dominance in the Middle East goes back to the 1950s and, as in creating a governing council in Iraq, it has always tried to achieve this aim through using unacceptable political leaders as its deputy sheriffs.
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“After years of silence the President has decided to speak to the world. He wants to set the record straight on a number of important issues, including the reasons behind the war and relations between the Arabs and the United States .” In 1982 the Iran-Iraq war was in its third year and the prominent colours in the streets of Baghdad were military khaki and the black of mourning. The soldiers and women looked war weary. Nobody expected the war to last this long. And there was no relief in sight.
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A proud, often conquered people, still hoping for a national homeland, is once again emerging as a major factor in America's vague plans to change Iraq and guarantee a new political balance in the Middle East for decades to come. The factor is the 7,000,000 Kurds of Iraq but the quest is centuries old. Geography is with the Kurds - or against them. Anything they do will affect conditions in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey and the Muslim republics of central Asia, the other countries with substantial Kurdish minorities. |
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Except for two or three of them, and only because they wrote suspect books about their adventures, James Russell Barracks, Joe Goodwin, George Britt, William Bucley, Robert Anderson, Ed Applegate, Arthur Close, Reymond Close, Miles Copeland, James Critchfield, William Eddy, James Eichelberger, Joseph Ellender, Wilbur Crane Eveland, John Fistere, Robert Ransom Haig, Elmo Hutcheson, Harry Kern, William Lakeland, Armand Meyer, Archie Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt mean nothing to most people. In fact, this is a partial list of major CIA agents who determined and carried out American designs in the Arab world from the 1950s until now...
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Mr Palestine has done it again. Mohamed Abdel Kauf Arafat Al Quada Hussemi, better known as Yasser Afafat, has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Not only for the first time in his 75 years Arafat has outwitted his enemies and re-established himself as the undisputed leader of the Palestinians. The United States and Israel adamant in refusing to deal with him are the losers. The familiar figure will be with us for the immediate future.
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The true nature of Western-Arab relations during the past hundred years is among the casualties of 11 September 2001. To avoid a total confrontation, both sides have promoted the misconception that the vile event was an isolated incident. This is not true, even when we dismiss ancient history, the Crusades and the Turks on the gates of Vienna. Since the end of the First World War, the West has consistently undermined the development of democracy and granting the Arab people their rights by supporting subservient individuals, army groups, sects, clans and families.
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The events of 11 September 2001 exposed the complexity of the conflicts racking the Middle East. The enormous social forces set free by the event can no longer be ignored. Ready to die defending their interests, the perpetrators of the crime have become a model to be emulated and admired.
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King Fahd bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud, fifth King of Saudi Arabia, died yesterday. He was born in 1922, occupied ministerial positions for a decade, became crown prince in 1972 and acceded to the throne in 1982.
Prior to becoming king, he was considered a modernizer. Observers believed that he would transform the kingdom from an absolute feudal monarchy to a modern state. This did not come to pass and his rule was marked by serious challenges to his family within Saudi Arabia, regionally and internationally. Undoubtedly, the appearance of some of these challenges was part of an inevitable historical process but others resulted from Fahd’s behaviour.
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Thirty years ago, in 1975, Beirut began its process of self-destruction and hundreds of thousands of Arabs moved to London and made it the capital of the Middle East. The deep recession of the mid 70s found London welcoming, the Arabs were needed to prop up the sagging property and consumer markets.
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King Fahd of Saudi Arabia is 84 and confined to a wheelchair. Some magazines have estimated his wealth at $28 billion. He suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and crippling orthopaedic problems. According to a former American ambassador to the desert kingdom, ‘His mind is vacant; he spends his time watching cartoons on television – especially Mickey Mouse and Road Runner.’
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Putting Saddam Hussein on trial is dangerous. He is a thug and a murderer but trying him now is likely to produce comparisons between his misdeeds and the behaviour of Iraq’s occupiers and their Iraqi deputy sheriffs. In front of a worldwide audience, Saddam will win, even if he is convicted.
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In the Arab world the more things stay the same the worse they get. People’s expectations are growing much faster than real improvement in their lives. Meanwhile, leaders and governments suffer from a rot at the core which is spreading and perpetrating their inability to respond to people’s needs and wishes.
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