I suspect what I'm about to write may shock a few people. I was priveliged to have an upbringing where I was raised to be interested in the Arab world. My father worked for John Howard Ltd as their chief pilot after the war. This company was a construction company, involved in building much of the oil processing infrastructure in various Arab countries. He was fluent in Arabic, but generally never let on. He personally knew Osama Bin Ladens father, who was a highly respectable middle man and broker of many of the deals. My mother once told me that my father had taught him to fly. I've no idea if this was true, but my father was a qualified pilot instructor and he had most certainly have been keen to earn a few quid extra.
My father always explained that the west had a highly naive veiw of Arab politics. He'd spend hours detailing the reasons for the formation of the Ba'ath movement. Most people associate this with Saddam Husseins tyranny, but it is a pan arabic nationalist movement. Their view was that the Arab nations were a Western construct and there should be a unified Arab nation. Nasser of Egypt was a major proponent. The British have never been trusted by the Arabs, since Lawrence of Arabia lead a revolt, only for Palestine to fall under the British mandate.
As to the Americans. In the 1940's & 50's they were seen in a far more positive light by many Arabs. They were staunchly opposed to British Imperialism and supported many of the local kings & sheiks (Saudi Arabia a typical case). My father was of the view (correct as it has turned out), that this would all go sour, when the Arabs twigged that the support was purely for economic advantage. My father often recounted his experience at one village, where there was persistent petty thefts by local villagers. The local sheik visited, lined up all of the villagers and ordered them to stop robbing the Americans. The thefts continued. The sheik reappeared, lined up all of the villagers apart from five men. The villagers were machine gunned. The sheik then told the remaining five people to go out and tell other villagers what happened if they didn't obey his will. The Americans were grateful to the sheik for his efforts.
This was the society where young Osama Bin Laden was raised. He had a priveliged upbringing. He rebelled. His story is well documented, but it is worth reminding ourselves that he built his power base with CIA help. They saw him as the representative of a family who they did business with (Osama's dad was also mates with the Bush family). He built a strong faction involved in fighting the Russians in Afghanistan.
Like many such alliances, when the job was done, young Osama had no further use to the West. Sadly for us, having created the monster, he came back to haunt us. He had wealth and connections and a group of fanatics prepared to die for the cause. As the Arab people gradually grew more suspicious of the western motives in the region, Bin Laden became a more influential figure. Bin Ladens CIA backers lost control and through a series of spectacular attacks on Western interests, Bin Laden became the poster boy for fundamentalist Islamic anger against the west. This culminated with the 9/11 attacks on America.
Whilst Bin Laden hoped this would stir a popular Islamic uprising, it was a huge tactical blunder. He forced America's hand and has been on the run ever since. What happened today is the inevitable end of the process. Unlike some people, I doubt that Bin Laden will become a popular Arab martyr. His philosophy was anti Islamic, his actions were hugely destructive and his methods and tactics were doomed to failure. His ideology was an evolutionary dead end.
Ultimately I subscribe to the view my father had of Arab politics. We don't understand the culture, we don't understand their traditions and we're better off not interfering. We should deal with other countries as partners, rather than seeking to dominate or manipulate them. With the death of Bin Laden, we have an opportunity to reassess the path we've taken. I'd like to see a total end to Western Imperialism in the region and an end to support for tyrants. I believe that in the long term, that is the only path to world stability. Any other path will just see a whole succession of new Bin Ladens.
My father always explained that the west had a highly naive veiw of Arab politics. He'd spend hours detailing the reasons for the formation of the Ba'ath movement. Most people associate this with Saddam Husseins tyranny, but it is a pan arabic nationalist movement. Their view was that the Arab nations were a Western construct and there should be a unified Arab nation. Nasser of Egypt was a major proponent. The British have never been trusted by the Arabs, since Lawrence of Arabia lead a revolt, only for Palestine to fall under the British mandate.
As to the Americans. In the 1940's & 50's they were seen in a far more positive light by many Arabs. They were staunchly opposed to British Imperialism and supported many of the local kings & sheiks (Saudi Arabia a typical case). My father was of the view (correct as it has turned out), that this would all go sour, when the Arabs twigged that the support was purely for economic advantage. My father often recounted his experience at one village, where there was persistent petty thefts by local villagers. The local sheik visited, lined up all of the villagers and ordered them to stop robbing the Americans. The thefts continued. The sheik reappeared, lined up all of the villagers apart from five men. The villagers were machine gunned. The sheik then told the remaining five people to go out and tell other villagers what happened if they didn't obey his will. The Americans were grateful to the sheik for his efforts.
This was the society where young Osama Bin Laden was raised. He had a priveliged upbringing. He rebelled. His story is well documented, but it is worth reminding ourselves that he built his power base with CIA help. They saw him as the representative of a family who they did business with (Osama's dad was also mates with the Bush family). He built a strong faction involved in fighting the Russians in Afghanistan.
Like many such alliances, when the job was done, young Osama had no further use to the West. Sadly for us, having created the monster, he came back to haunt us. He had wealth and connections and a group of fanatics prepared to die for the cause. As the Arab people gradually grew more suspicious of the western motives in the region, Bin Laden became a more influential figure. Bin Ladens CIA backers lost control and through a series of spectacular attacks on Western interests, Bin Laden became the poster boy for fundamentalist Islamic anger against the west. This culminated with the 9/11 attacks on America.
Whilst Bin Laden hoped this would stir a popular Islamic uprising, it was a huge tactical blunder. He forced America's hand and has been on the run ever since. What happened today is the inevitable end of the process. Unlike some people, I doubt that Bin Laden will become a popular Arab martyr. His philosophy was anti Islamic, his actions were hugely destructive and his methods and tactics were doomed to failure. His ideology was an evolutionary dead end.
Ultimately I subscribe to the view my father had of Arab politics. We don't understand the culture, we don't understand their traditions and we're better off not interfering. We should deal with other countries as partners, rather than seeking to dominate or manipulate them. With the death of Bin Laden, we have an opportunity to reassess the path we've taken. I'd like to see a total end to Western Imperialism in the region and an end to support for tyrants. I believe that in the long term, that is the only path to world stability. Any other path will just see a whole succession of new Bin Ladens.
Great post, Rog. Your father was a wise man.
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