BRIDGE TO NOWHERE

first draft

f i c t i o n a l i z e d

THE DILEMMA

After a day burning at the beach, I was eager to sit outdoors, in the shade, with a tea. But the café was full. So many French, Italian, and British tourists. (Where were the Germans?) I finally found a bench. Right in front of me, however, were two Arab men. I could tell from their accent what region they came from. Now I had a dilemma. I didn’t want to listen in on their conversation, which I could hear abundantly well; they were talking politics. But then the bench was too precious to abandon, and hordes of tourists were searching about for a table or even a chair. The problem: I didn’t care about introducing myself. In the end, weighing the options, I decided that my priority was to avoid snooping in on them, albeit involuntarily. But not to lose the bench. So I had to introduce myself. And I did. I told them that I was doing that so that they’d know a fellow Arab could hear them talk.

Instead of thanking me and turning to other topics, they reeled me in with an overflow of welcoming comments and hospitality. They were both men of journalism. And both, too, asked whether I was the same Tony Khater of SaudiPolitics. I was and felt famous for a split-second, but with the utmost reluctance.

ORDERS COME FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

“We look for your analysis all the time.”

“And?”

“You understand: few at the newspaper are competent in English. So we have our translation and research department give us the highlights. Your analysis is so different and because it’s different we find it insightful. But the powers-that-be don’t care much about you.”

“If it’s any consolation, the powers-that-be here likely don’t care much about me either. They want someone to fall in line uncritically first for their aggression on Arab Iraq and later to help them mobilize the Arab public against Iran. Their stupidity knows no end.”

“Are you talking about the CIA?”

“The CIA? Why is it you guys are so consumed with the CIA? Decision-making in the U.S. is hardly the purview of the CIA. It comes from above, from the White House itself. It’s not like in Arab countries where the top is into pretending to be the falcon of Arabism and Islam while his intelligence service is wheeling-and-dealing away any national pride left in the Arabs. True, there are times where a general might go public on an issue so as to torpedo a President’s policy as we may or may not be witnessing currently with Mullen’s announcement about Iran possessing the capability to manufacture a weapon. But, generally, the President orders and the CIA, the Pentagon, and others execute the orders.”

“So when they torture at Abu Ghraib or when they do renditions-for-torture -- it’s not the CIA or the Pentagon?”

“The CIA executes the orders of the White House. When and if it tortures, or renders-for-torture -- it’s the White House which has given the orders. The CIA wouldn’t even dare be involved in anything that smacks of torture without orders from the White House.”

“So that exculpates them?”

“That’s a different subject altogether. I’m not saying it does. I’m not approaching the issue morally. September 11 happened during the watch of a White House so influenced by Diaspora right-wing nationalists who think of Arabs in two ways and two ways only: friendly Arabs, and that means those Arabs who are willing–some even eager– to accept and adopt an Israeli perspective; and hostile Arabs, and these are the ones who should be killed or tortured -- then killed. Nothing in-between. The Arabs aren’t allowed to have an opposition in politics, let alone one that wins elections -- as it once had in Algeria and in Palestine.”

“And the White House, now?”

“Liberal Diaspora nationalists. These come in when torture and killing have failed as policy and they try a softer but more cunning approach to reach full domination along with their Israel of the Arab nation.”

THE SAUDI RULING ELITE ALLIED TO THE DIASPORA NATIONALISTS

“Do you really believe the Saudis are allied to the Israel lobby?”

“Yes, I do. Why is it that people find that incredulous? Three senior Saudi princes separately had once made incredible overtures to Israel and/or to the Diaspora, so convinced they were that the Diaspora can make them kings -- ”

“Names -- ”

“You’d have to ask your translation and research department to find the names in the blog.”

“Fair enough. So the idea as we understand it is to accept a strategic alliance with Israel to balance Iranian power?”

“No one could be that clueless to really believe that Israel can balance Iranian power. Just like no one is going to engage in all-out wars, nuclear or otherwise. Iran and all-out war are fear tactics meant to mobilize the public and neutralize the alternative elite. It’s all about attrition and tiring out your foe -- from now ‘til eternity. The royal elite in Saudi Arabia is plainly scared of the Diaspora nationalists in American politics. They’re paying them protection money to neutralize them as a force against the royal system of government in Saudi Arabia. If there’s a strategic alliance, it’s between the Saudi ruling elite and the Diaspora nationalists. It’s certainly NOT between the Arab Saudis and Israel. Far from it. Nor can it be to balance Iranian power. Israel is incapable of doing that. It can’t even manage its relations with the Palestinians whose lands it occupies, let alone extend across hundreds of miles of land where people who hate it live -- to reach Iran, or reach it by air which would be next-to-useless and expose it to retaliation by Hezbollah and Hamas.”

“We believe you. You’re a realist. But you know we’d never say it.”

“And I fully understand your hesitation.”

THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE

“One colleague once said that you’re the bridge between us and the ones you call harmful idiots.”

“You’re not up-to-date. The ones in power now are the idiots-reluctant. They’re as endemically and intrinsically anti-Arab and Diaspora-oriented as the ones who preceded them. Gone for now are the harmful idiots.”

“But you’re the bridge, anyway.”

“I’m flattered, but I'm not a narcissist. I’m more of a monk who treasures his solitude and independence.”

“You see, that’s what I like. This multi-layered capability -- politics, psychology.”

“Seriously: I’m flattered. But the newsletter is an American effort, not an Arab. And not a bridge. And I’m not sure it’ll continue for too long.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not the bridge.”

“Bridge between what land masses? You (and I don’t mean to offend you) and much of the ruling elite in most of the Arab countries are in bed with the idiots-reluctant. You obey them uncritically; you follow their orders and trust their idiotic judgement, however suicidal that jusgement is. So who am I being a bridge for or between?”

“We’re not as much in cahoots with the Americans as you think. We know they’re Israeli and, as you put it, Diaspora-oriented, to the bone. But they likely trust you way more than insignificant us. So you convey to them that they shouldn’t be that Israeli; and you remind us to bargain harder with them and not allow them to dictate to us.”

“That’s a pathetic bridge if I’ve seen any. But thanks for the vote of confidence, anyway.”


THE DIASPORA NATIONALISTS REPRESENT THE ARABS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

“So who represent the Arab point of view in Washington, D.C.?”

“The Diaspora.”

“ No, serious.”

“I swear I am. September 11 has helped the Diaspora nationalists fuse Israel’s foreign policy with American foreign policy institutions -- total fusion; and they’ve co-opted the Arabs and Arab-Americans in Washington-D.C.”

“They’ve fused with the CIA?”

“Yes, including the CIA. I have no sources; only the ability to deduce. And the Saudi royals gave these Diaspora nationalists the carte blanche -- including by pumping money into the Diaspora organizations -- to represent the Arabs wholesale. No authentic ones are left to represent what you call the Arabs. Even at the level of the Palestinians, those representing Fateh (AKA Palestinian Authority) are likely so in bed with the Israelis since their leader, Mahmoud Abbas, acts as if Hamas is the enemy not those who occupy Palestinian land. These, truth be told, with their hundreds of checkpoints, keep him in power. So how could his people not be in bed with the Israelis? Whoever says he or she represents the so-called Arab point of view has been compromised, to use the language of intelligence. He or she is engaged in make-believe, a shyster, as smart-talking con-artist.”

“But there is an Arab point of view and there are Arabs. You have two here–and you, a third.”

“The Diaspora nationalists have succeeded beyond any imaginable level at monopolizing and co-opting the Arab point of view in Washington, D.C.; it's all in the blog.”

“We want details.”

“Your translation and research department isn’t doing a good job.”

“ We pay them well.”

“Most Arabs and Arab-Americans were recruited during the preparation for the assault on Arab Iraq. They wrote in support of the invasion, which freaked me out, but they did. Some were recruited by Saudi intelligence AKA harmful idiots, some by Kuwaiti intelligence AKA harmful idiots. The fusion between Israel and the idiots-reluctant (then harmful idiots) foreign policy institutions extended region-wide, across the Arab nation, reeling in any and all. The Iraq Project had so much money allotted to it that money was no issue and all were bought out. (The Iraq project had played a pivotal role in our bankruptcy; and to keep troops in Iraq and increase those in Afghanistan should send us tailspinning downward as public confidence in living and spending would further erode by these so-called wars and may not revive soon enough to dodge a depression. I for one have delayed buying a car. My sister, too. If one car goes, likely hers, then it’ll be the bus. My health insurance premium and that of my sister have gone through the roof. How can we live it up and revive the economy? And our example extends across the board for all Americans.) At any rate, all began to coordinate with the Diaspora nationalists in the assault on Arab Iraq and in the wider region. The idea was and still is to turn the Arab public against Iran and away from involvement with Israel and its policies vis-a-vis the Arab Palestinians and the Arab Syrians. Sophomoric and harmful , I know. But the very aggression on Arab Iraq was sophomoric and sadistic and suicidal! Which reflected in good part the persona of the Diaspora nationalists and the harmful idiots when it came to Arabs. If you want to cull how widespread the turn-the-Arabs-against-Iran effort is -- all you need do is consider the recent news that Fateh had dispatched aid to the Iranian opposition, the Mujahideen Khalq at Camp Ashraf in Iraq. This is Fateh lining up against Iran at a time when it had received next-to-nothing from the Israelis in land or water or prisoners. Shameful. So unabashedly sycophant-ish. They just want to pay salaries, that’s all, and going anti-Iran assures them of money for salaries. (Maybe and maybe not. COngress has to agree.) No one among the Arab public believes Iran is a threat. If it is a threat to the Gulf Arabs, then who the hell among the Arab public would volunteer over to the U.A.E. to fight for the islands, for instance --to protect affluent princes who refuse to field competent armies? If the U.A.E. was part of an Arab common market and benefits were flowing through that market to the poor Arabs in places like Egypt and Syria -- then, yes, the Arab public would report over to the U.A.E. or to Bahrain or to Kuwait to defend them. But not when these places are beholden to the Israelis directly and via the American protector, and in the absence of a common Arab market that systematically infuses trade and wealth into the poorer Arabs. Iran has a gem of a wedge issue here. Kudos to Iran.”

“You see: that’s why the powers-that-be aren’t crazy about you.”

“Not that I lose any sleep over it. But the powers-that-be who fund your newspaper --own itl really -- should wake up and come out of their cocoon of Uncle Tom-like blank stare where they had been sleeping with idiots who are harmful and with the Diaspora nationalists. You’ve tired me out.”

“Please don’t leave.”

“I have a principle: No handsome women, no staying anywhere.”

“You don’t mean this.”

“ I may not. But this does help me protect my independence and it saves on my energy level.”

“It’s so good to know you. We expect you to visit us at the newspaper when you’re in -----------”

“I will.”

“Do you mean it?”

“I do. Thank you.”