The Return Of
Arabophobia
By Neil Clark
The
Guardian
22 October, 2003
First,
they tried to dismiss Iraqi resistance as the work of "Saddam loyalists".
Then they sought to blame "outside forces". Now, as it becomes
clear that Iraqis of all sects oppose the occupation, a third explanation
has arisen. Terrorism, anarchy and criminality are prevalent in Iraq
because ... er ... terrorism, anarchy and criminality are what Iraqis
do.
Arabophobia has
been part of western culture since the Crusades, with Saddam Hussein
and Osama bin Laden only the latest in a long line of Arab bogeymen.
For centuries the Arab has played the role of villain, seducer of our
women, hustler and thief - the barbarian lurking at the gates of civilisation.
In the 20th century
new images emerged: the fanatical terrorist, the stone-thrower, the
suicide bomber. Now, as the Project for a New American Century suffers
its first major setback in the back streets of Baghdad and Basra, Arabophobia
has been given a new lease of life. "I read TE Lawrence before
I came here," a British officer was quoted in the Mail on Sunday.
"A century ago he recognised dishonesty was inherent in Arab society.
Today is the same. They do nothing for love and nothing at all if they
can help it."
The attitudes of
the officer, shocking though they are, only mirror those of the people
who sent him to war. Scratch a neo-con and you find an Arabophobe. Condoleezza
Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, has berated Arabs
on the "need to change their behaviour". Douglas Feith, the
undersecretary of defence for policy, has talked of Israel's "moral
superiority" over its neighbours. And the veteran foreign policy
hawk Richard Perle, when asked about the fears Egyptians had of the
Iraq war provoking an Arab backlash, replied: "Egyptians can barely
govern their own country, we don't need advice on how to govern ours."
For the first time,
we have an American administration that talks of "de-Arabising"
the Middle East - the ultimate Perleian dream of Arab nations governed
by clones of Ahmed Chalabi, their bazaars buried under shopping malls
and Arab hospitality (not good for business) replaced by western corporate
ethics.
It is not hard to
find evidence of the increased pervasiveness of neo-con-induced Arabophobia
in our media, whether intentional or not. Contrast Jeremy Paxman's handling
of Ruth Wedgewood, an American neo-conservative, and Imad Moustapha,
Syria's deputy ambassador to the US, on Newsnight recently. Professor
Wedgewood was treated with a deference you would expect Paxman to reserve
for his great aunt, Dr Moustapha with a withering contempt and studied
condescension (why should we believe you, "old chap"?). But
with respect, Jeremy, why should we not believe Dr Moustapha? Wedgewood
was speaking for a nation that launched an illegal war of aggression
on grounds which have proved to be false. Moustapha was the representative
of a country which is in no breach of international law and has called
for the removal of all WMD from the Middle East.
Issues of mendacity
have, of course, been a major theme in international events this year.
The British public had to decide who was telling the truth: Tony Blair,
with his claim that Iraq posed "a very real threat to Britain",
or Saddam, with his repeated denials. The neo-cons knew that their case
for war was painfully thin. But they banked on Arabophobia - stoked
by their allies in the media - to do the rest: Tony, the white, middle-class
churchgoer, or Saddam, the swarthy Arab? For many, there was no contest.
Of course, Saddam couldn't possibly be telling the truth about not possessing
WMD. He's an Arab. Arabs lie. We know this from TE Lawrence.
Critical to the
neo-con plan to obtain control of the resources of the Middle East is
a need to portray Arabs not just as mendacious, but also as "barely
capable" of running their own countries without benign outside
interference. The neo-con notion that Arabs need "civilising"
and "assistance" in shaping their future differs very little
from the attitudes of the first British imperialists in Africa more
than a century ago. The British and American officers who now talk of
Iraqi "dishonesty", and seek to portray Iraq as a backward
and savage land, would rather we forget that up until the imposition
of sanctions by Britain and the US, independent Ba'athist Iraq, although
a dictatorship, had the most developed infrastructure, the best healthcare
and the best universities of any country in the Middle East.
"Iraqis are
the world's best dodgers and thieves - they are descended from a direct
line of Ali Babas," says Corporal Kevin Harnley of the Royal Engineers,
bemoaning the black market in British-issue police uniforms. The irony,
that he himself has been an accomplice to one of the most audacious
smash-and-grab enterprises in the history of thievery, seems to have
been lost on him.
Neil
Clark is a writer and journalist specialising in Middle Eastern
and Balkan affairs