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Following are excerpts from an interview with former Kuwaiti minister of education Ahmad Al-Ruba'i, which aired on Al-Rai TV on March 27, 2006:
Ahmad Al-Ruba'i: Some Arab countries are fictitious countries that are run very badly. Their natural resources are exploited in a very unjust manner, money is wasted on armies that do not fight, people are persecuted, and liberties are non-existent, yet when it comes to pan-Arab issues, the leader is the number one hero of the Arab nation: He's the one defending the Palestinian cause and always shouting slogans... This takes me back to Arab and Islamic history. The tyrannical rulers would summon the Islamic jurisprudents, and say to them: "Spread among the people that Man has no free will, that everything is predetermined."
Today, we have the concept of modern conspiracy. In most Arab countries, everybody is a victim of a foreign conspiracy.
[...]
Interviewer: [Some proclaim:] "No Iraqi would kill another Iraqi," "We love one another, we are great." They begin to review thousands of years of Iraqi history, and say: "but there are some who have entered Iraq in order to destroy it." How would you respond to such a person?
Ahmad Al-Ruba'i: Abu Tareq, this is the prevalent talk everywhere, I'm sad to say. "Is it conceivable that Muslims did the killing on 9/11?" Yes, they did. They killed 3,000 people. But it wasn't Islam - they were criminals. "No, it must have been an American conspiracy..." "...As the plane was flying, there was an American that..." With regard to the occupation of Kuwait, they say: "The American ambassador told Saddam to enter Kuwait." So America brought Saddam into Kuwait and then took him out, why? "In order to gain control of the region." But America has been in control of the region and its oil for a long time.
The concept of conspiracy has spread in a very organized and efficient way, and many Arabs, even intellectuals, believe they are victims of conspiracy.
[...]
Interviewer: Ahmad, what is the solution to this crisis?
Ahmad Al-Ruba'i: I believe that the solution, without oversimplifying things, is that we stop dealing with politics, and establish economic [cooperation] among the Arabs. We have been destroyed by the politicization of everything, and it is high time we agree on an economic program for revival. People have no food, no jobs, and no capabilities. Two neighboring countries, Kuwait and Iraq, have had closed borders for 13 years, but this has not been detrimental to either market - to ours or the Iraqi one. What kind of nation is this, if it does not have common interests?
What kind of nation is this - if a ruler can wake up at any moment, decide to invade his neighbors and then invades them, and nobody gets hurt? In Europe, no country would dare invade its neighbors, because 3,000 trucks loaded with merchandise cross the border every day. This would harm the farmers and the industries, because people's interests are intertwined.
[...]
As I've said before, we need a summit to discuss how to wipe out illiteracy. Illiteracy grows every day, yet we talk about liberating Palestine? All the Arab leaders who talk about liberating Palestine should liberate their citizens from oppression and prosecution.
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