So before I was nine I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; and the tribe against the world. And all of us against the infidel.
Arab Quotes
I’m the Sheik of Araby, Your love belongs to me. At night when you’re asleep Into your tent I’ll creep.
Since theological propositions are scientifically meaningless, those of us of pragmatic disposition simply won’t buy such dubious merchandise… Maybe – remotely – there might be something in such promotions, as there might be something in the talking dogs and the stocks in Arabian tapioca mines that W. C. Fields once sold in his comedies, but […]
Let me get this straight, we are going to war to defend people who won’t let women drive?
I have met charming people, lots of whom would be charming if they hadn’t got a complex about the British and everyone has pleasant and cheerful manners, and I like most of the American voices. On the other hand I don’t believe they have any God and their hats are frightful. On balance I prefer […]
We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960s, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America. (1990)
What we want to have in existence, what we ought to have been creating in this time is some administration with Arab institutions which we can safely leave while pulling the strings ourselves; something that won’t cost very much, which the Labour government can swallow consistent with its’ principles, but under which our economic and […]
The White House is right that Iraq is by far the most repressive country in the entire Middle East – but that’s true only if you’re a man. To see how many Arab countries are in some ways even more repressive to women, consider how an invasion might play out. If American ground troops are […]
The foreigner and Christian is not a popular person in Arabia. However friendly and informal the treatment of yourself may be, remember always that your foundations are very sandy ones.
The people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information. The Baghdad communiques are belated, insincere, incomplete. Things have been far worse than we have been told, our administration […]
