European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 24, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday August 24,1990 r 1 i1 . Rosentha backing Mideast dictators is asking for trouble a country that emerges from one War without knowing Why it came about prepares the Way for another War with the same enemy or his clones. Now while memories Are fresh is the Best time to figure out Why we find ourselves again facing one of the expansionist tyrants who arc this country a natural enemies Why we Are again so surprised by it All. This is the historical starting Point Arab leaders and the West have treated the Middle East and its people As objects to fulfil their own Power ambitions and lusts. The Arab leaders made sure to keep tribal or Feudal systems and political or religious despotism intact. That is How they prevent the Middle East from moving into a fresher world which could Challenge or discard them. While much of the world struggled for new political and economic ways the Arab world has remained ruled entirely by hereditary military or religious tyrannies and homemade economic monopolies. With Western support nations such As India and Japan moved to Freedom from foreign colonialism or Domestic imperialism. Elections were held from South Korea to Nicaragua. In the past year the Bells rang in Eastern Europe bringing Hope to All who yearned for freedoms Grace. But in the Middle East the West looked on benignly As dynastic jailers kept their people in political cellars. Why for one reason the West and the Middle East pm rulers have floated in a Pool of assumed common interest Oil. National boundaries were usually drawn by Western colonial offices. The economic future of the area was decided by a combination of local rulers Western ministries and Oil companies. Western a a experts said solemnly that arabs and Damoc racy did not mix a religion and tradition you know. Too Many Western academic and government specialists writers and journalists came to believe in a mythological islamic world a Mirage of tolerance brotherhood and chivalric rulers. It was a fantasy world where strangers were fed roasted Lamb and never Ever taken hostage. It satisfied the consciences and ambitions and sometimes scratch cd the erotic itches of foreigners who built their careers around the Middle East. Reading list the sensitive Rich books of Bernard Lewis director of the Annan Berg research Institute of Philadelphia and Princeton University professor including his latest a race and slavery in the Middle  but it was a fantasy built on the contemptuous idea that arabs could not aspire to or practice democracy. The result of the Confluence of Arab Western Oil interests and mythology a and later Moscow a arming of Arab dictators a is that not a single Middle easter William f. Buckley America responds to mid East crisis you ugh ruler has been freely chosen by his people not a one. They Rule by heredity of recent Vintage like the saudis by coup like Saddam by a no opposition a referendum a like president Mubarak of Egypt or by imposition of the British colonial office like King Hussein of Jordan. Yesterdays history but it has become today a War. Arab rulers tried to protect themselves by making religious fanaticism or zealotry for the a Arab nation the Only political currencies in the Middle East. Torture and death arc the Price of talking about Freedom. The rulers stoked frenzied nationalism. It helped build Saddam As it did Assad of Syria the terrorist paymaster who is now our 15-Minutc ally and one Day will turn against us again. And in Washington our specialists were so wrapped up in their Middle East fantasies that they refused to hear Saddam a threats against us until he stuck his gun in their  Calev amp of the Arab nations arc dangerous not because arabs Are bom with knives in their Mouths but because with our help Only dictators Rule. Because they Are in chosen dictators Are insecure. Insecure rulers with armies Are dangerous by definition. Time and again the United states has found itself at War with one of them. Democracy and despotism threaten each other. When was the last time the United states found itself at War with a democracy but Arab nationalism is not inevitable or unstoppable. The Arab world has never had a Chance to hear Freedom Loving dissidents or an elected Leader who might argue against hatred and holy War. We certainly cannot create Arab democracy. But we can support it if it Ever begins to appear. Meanwhile in decency to people who live under any dictatorship we can throw away our tales of the arabian nights. If we do we May even save ourselves from fighting another War on the same Battleground. C now York times Bush a Golf during Gulf crisis Isnit up to Par an informal dinner party. Two men a Quot a and Quot a Quot a a have served on presidential cabinets. They engaged an inquisitive guest q on the subject of War and protocol. A i think president Bush has handled the situation superbly. But it defeats the imagination Why he insists on playing Golf through it All. Q surely his Point is understandable he s giving a signal to the arabs and in a sense to the world a b what signal q he a trying to say or at least that s How 1 see it look we have a mad Arab causing a situation that threatens vital interests. It is a sign of the great resources of the United slates that we can Cope with this crazy fellow without convulsing the metabolic order of . Government. Congresses Lake vacations in August and presidents play Golf a a the Man in the Street does no to think it s right for a president to play Golf while his son is silting in i 10-degree heat with a machine gun at his Side sniffing the air for any Trace of poisoned Gas a q but surely what television has done is to broadcast what people truly know goes on. Harold Macmillan reread All of George idiot during the Suez crisis a a wait a minute. That s the kind of thing one learns about a statesman with dispassionate appreciation after the crisis is Over. It is certainly not the kind of thing that would have been advertised Over bbl during that crisis. A foreign Secretary Harold Macmillan ordered the Fleet this afternoon to proceed from Cyprus to Alexandria and then resumed his Reading of the a Mill on the floss a a q lets Settle one Point Here. You Are saying either one or two things. 1 the general Public does no to want to Sec the president playing Golf but cosmopolitan Folk done to really care or else you Are saying 2 the president  be playing Golf during a crisis of this character. A the latter. 1 went through several of these and we were there in the situation room maybe two three times per Day and the president was at the Center of All activity a q but in t it universally accepted that Ino Dern communications place the president at the Center of activity no matter where he is a b no. He is at the Center of activity Only in the sense that at any time from any location he can authorize a nuclear response. But you can to be on the 11th Hole and give a sophisticated reply to sophisticated analysis of a problem that a just Arisen. Q but if its the kind of problem that requires sophisticated attention surely its a problem that gives the president time to get on his air plane and March into his situation room to do the appropriate agonizing a the whole impression is wrong. The kind of Gravity inherent in what we Are doing in the Gulf is inconsistent with Normal summer priorities a b and then there is the question of his representatives. Did you see Cheney getting off the air plane q no. B Well Here is our Secretary of defense being met at the Airport in saudi Arabia by a Royal Prince. And he comes Down the runway dressed in levies with his hand in his pocket whenever 1 landed in a foreign country it did no to matter who was meeting me 1 pulled out a formal suit and went Down the companionway with hands other than in my pocket a q you re not suggesting or Are you that this is something that offends the american people b 1 m not sure it is even noticed by the american people but it is very much noticed by people governed Verv strictly by protocol. Q 1 see your Point. 1 remember grim it into Lenin s Tomb with my hand absentmindedly in my pocket. A soviet guard yanked my hand out. A it makes a difference if a president is thought to be something of an incurable eccentric but George Bush keeps stressing that he is a regular fellow. Q when for and Eleanor served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England i remember it caused something of an appreciative flurry but i think it was Delight Over . Informality Wasny to it a that a different. It meant to the american people that the president and the first lady were not in the least embarrassed about an american addiction to hot dogs and were even prepared to serve them to visiting Royalty. A sign of self Confidence very much appreciated by the people. Q but Isnit playing Golf during a crisis a sign of self Confidence a actually since it Isnit really natural to let the television cameras film you playing Golf and even taking questions about the crisis while playing it can give exactly the opposite impression that you Are acting out a scene that is inherently unnatural. And this could give out the idea that you Are Well laughing on the outside but cry ing on the inside.  Juji pills Syndicate