In a recent column, the Saudi ambassador in London and occasional columnist for the London Arabic daily Al-Hayat,Ghazi Al-Qusaibi, advised Arab regimes not to rule out the possibility of waging war against Israel. On August 9,2001 he published a scathing attack on US President George W. Bush. Following are excerpts from the article[1]
"When George Bush Jr. came to the White House, after a long period of ambiguity and confusion, it was clear from the outset that his behavior stems from two enormous complexes. His first complex is [an urge to] manage matters completely differently than his predecessor, the popular and beloved Bill Clinton. His second complex is [an urge to] prove to himself, to his family, and to the world, that he makes his own decisions, and that his being the son of a former US president has no effect whatsoever on his political conduct."
"From the very beginning, it was obvious that little George wanted to come out from under the shadow of big George (who should have chosen a different name for his son)."
"The truth is that his complex was evident even before he entered the White House, when he insisted on introducing himself as George W., or 'Dubya,' as he pronounced it, so that no one would confuse him with his father. His complex became deeper when he needed the help of the old faces of his father's administration. If we take into account the Freudian problems of which no family is free – one example of many is Dubya's past alcoholism and his father's disappointment with him; another is the problem of the widespread belief that his younger brother is smarter and more talented than him – we will understand that his desire to prove that he has come of age is uncontrollable."
"No one has the right to deal with someone else's personal complexes as long as they are limited to his personal affairs. But in this case, we are dealing with the most powerful country on earth, and with a man whose decisions, positive or negative, affect the entire world."
"If only the matter ended with these two complexes! [But in addition,] the new president has arrived from the depths of domestic American politics with no experience whatsoever in foreign affairs. It has been said that during his term as governor of Texas he went abroad only twice – once to South America and once to Israel. Anyone familiar with [Midwest] America, remote from both liberal coasts, knows that there is a '[Midwest] American' ideology that leaves its mark on almost every politician from the depths of the US."
"This ideology is based on simple principles which some may view as naive. It includes a solid belief that the entire world needs the US, but the US does not need the world. There is tremendous caution regarding 'entanglements' in adventurism abroad. And there is ignorance about what is happening in many regions in the world – first and foremost in the Middle East."
"Thus, the man who now carries the White House is a man who carries these fundamental principles with him. [He is] a man lacking in foreign affairs experience; a man who wants to be different from his predecessor even when his predecessor was right; a man who does not want to carry on with the same policy as his father, even when that policy was wise. In a few months, this man has succeeded in creating so many enemies for the US that he deserves a prize that should be called: 'The Prize for Non-Stop Turning of Friends into Enemies.'"
"Dubya began his term with talk of a new military program that no American commentator calls anything less than idiotic. This program – nicknamed 'Son of Star Wars' – is based on the extremely bizarre idea that the source of menace to the US is not the USSR, which no longer exists, but a group of rogue states – Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. One of these states, if not all, has the capability to develop nuclear warhead missiles that can reach the US. The only way of dealing with this menace is to establish a defense shield of missiles that will destroy every rogue missile reaching American territory."
"No one, not even Dubya himself, knows what the final cost of this project will be – although no one doubts that it will run in the hundreds of billions of dollars."
"With a single decision – one with no logical or strategic basis – Dubya managed to push Russia into the arms of China, and North Korea into the arms of Russia; to arouse a great deal of fear in Europe; to strip of all [their] content disarmament agreements over which every American president since Eisenhower had toiled long and hard; and to usher in a new era of a terrible arms race."
"This decision alone is enough to make the world – the entire world – fear a future in the shadow of Dubya. But little George didn't stop there. Without consulting anyone, he decided to have the US bow out of the international treaty [i.e., Kyoto protocol] against environmental pollution, which had taken many long years to draft. With the same ease, he decided that the US would exit the negotiations on biological weapons disarmament. He decided to simply let loose the war criminal [Ariel] Sharon, who immediately embarked upon daily acts of massacres. As an afterthought, Dubya added an implied threat to OPEC countries not to dare to intervene in oil affairs."
"Doubtless the new president's advisors are telling him now, as he holidays at his Texas ranch, that there is no reason to worry, no reason to spoil his vacation atmosphere. Russia won't rebel against the American 'Santa Claus.' China needs huge American investments, and never forgets it. Britain is ready to follow Dubya into each and every bear den in Texas. And Europe will quickly realize that it cannot resist any American initiative."
"The Palestinian intifada will be ended next month, by the blood-letter, and negotiations will begin – negotiations that will not finish before the end of Dubya's second term. There is nothing to fear from Arab reactions: from the moderate states – starting with Egypt – which cannot forgo American financial aid, to the Gulf states, which cannot renounce American military aid in the face of the 'Monster of Baghdad,' none will do more than publish harmless declarations..."
"But Dubya's advisors, headed by [National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice] – whose legs the war criminal Sharon lusted after, thus proving that he is just as good at vulgarity as he is at genocide – would do well to offer their president, in addition to this rosy report, also a brief including the 'worst case scenario.'"
"In this regard, let me suggest to those advisors that they remind Dubya of a few facts. Regarding Russia, it would be a clear mistake to confuse [former] President Yeltsin – who barely roused himself from vodka fumes before succumbing to the influence of drug fumes – with his successor [Putin], the young wrestler and graduate of the Soviet KGB school."
"With regard to the Middle East, the American president's advisors should remind him of a solid historical fact that many prefer to ignore: every military coup in the Arab nation, without exception, has been directly linked to Palestine. Syria's upheavals were the result of the defeat of 1948, and had no connection to domestic reform. The Egyptian coup of 1952 was carried out by a small group of officers formed only after the war with Israel, and its primary goal was to wash away the shame clinging to the Egyptian military. The Egyptian-Syrian unity, a real revolution in Arab politics, would not have come about had it not been for the Palestine problem. The Iraqi revolution of 1958 was less against the monarchy than against Nuri al-Sa'id, who was considered Israel's ally. The logic of the Arab revolutions has been that all Arab capitals must rebel so that the free revolutionaries could all invade Palestine. The Imam Khomeini aroused the public by means of his continued attacks on Israel, no less than his attacks on the Shah. Even the cursed invasion of Kuwait was not free of attempts at 'Palestinization'... Finally, the American president's advisors should remind him that the credit for leaving the 'Monster of Baghdad' in charge of the regime must go primarily to American policy, which rains billions of dollars on Tel-Aviv while it bombards Baghdad with missiles."
"If any of the American president's advisors is an Arabic speaker, he might summarize the position of the Arab world, from one end to the other, with its moderates and extremists, with a verse from the famous poem that, disregarded, led to the fall of the Ummayad empire: 'I see [beneath] the ashes a spark of flame. And I fear that the blaze will take hold.'"
"We hope and pray that Dubya will return from his vacation relaxed and rejuvenated, and that in addition to self-satisfaction, he also has a modicum of apprehension. For in international politics, nothing is more frightening than a man who fears nothing."
