Col. Stanislav Lunev
Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002

In a time of practically nonstop violence in the Middle East, liberal politicians and the media often act as if countries such as Saudi Arabia are among the world's open societies. They do not want to recognize that the Middle East has 21 Muslim states, every one of them a dictatorship, and for Muslim dictatorships open societies are sworn enemies, never to be forgiven for carrying the germs of political and religious freedom.

America's liberals keep trying to underscore words that have no meaning in the democratic U.S., words such as 'royal family,' 'royal embassy,' 'crown prince' and others symbolizing the alleged "royal" connections of the present Middle East leaders.

They don't want to remember some of the lessons of history, which tell us something completely different from what our liberals are trying to promote.

Nonetheless, it's well-known that in 1914, during World War I, Germany signed an alliance with Turkey, whose territory then included almost all of what are today's Middle Eastern countries. The Arabian Peninsula was nothing more than a vast desert where travelers encountered only a few nomadic clans of Bedouins, robbers and brigands who robbed pilgrims visiting two of the holiest Muslim cities, Mecca and Medina.

For the war against Turkey, British intelligence hired some of these Bedouin gangs, headed by Wahhabi Saud and Sharif Hussein, and led by a British officer, the famed Lawrence of Arabia. Both of the Arab chiefs received gifts from British intelligence for their attacks against Turkey and, from 1917, for the support of British and allied troops, which arrived on the peninsula at the end of WW I.

Among the British gifts were promises to provide a large piece of land (currently Syrian territory) to Hussein's son Faisal, who would be proclaimed king of Damascus. Faisal entered Damascus riding a white horse and accompanied by Maj. Lawrence. He was soon driven out by French troops, which dashed his hopes of ruling over a united Arab kingdom.

British authorities, seeking to avoid problems with France, gave Faisal territory between the Jordan River and the Arabian desert, named it Iraq and proclaimed Faisal king. Faisal's brother Abdullah also received from British authorities a piece of land on the other side of the Jordan River and was declared king of Transjordan, which later was renamed simply Jordan.

Everybody was happy but Wahhabi Saud, who was granted a huge but empty territory in the Arabian desert and had no idea of the treasure that lay beneath this arid, barren land. A few years later Saud attacked and occupied Mecca, which was under the control of Sharif Hussein (father of Faisal and Abdullah), and proclaimed himself king of Saudi Arabia (Arabia of Saud).

Hussein complained to the British authorities, but they resolved the problem in their own way by granting Hussein a nice villa in Cyprus, where the father of the kings of Iraq and Jordan lived peacefully to the end of his life in 1930.

In other words, those whom we are currently treating as royalty and as kings and princes, etc., in the Middle East are nothing other than direct and non-direct heirs or successors of the former desert brigands whose nonstop fighting among themselves killed more Muslims than were killed by any nation.

From time to time, these kings and princes meet with U.S. officials and lecture them about what the U.S. can and cannot do in the Middle East. Currently, during the war on international terrorism, they are providing hospitality to terrorists and their families, refusing to inform U.S. authorities about terrorists' plans and intentions, insulting and abusing American troops defending them from potential aggressors, and criticizing U.S. policy in the Middle East.

It's very difficult to predict how long this practice will continue, but American politicians have to know that in the Middle East they are dealing not with real kings and princes, but with successors of desert robbers. They must treat them accordingly.

Col. Stanislav Lunev is the highest-ranking Soviet military intelligence officer ever to defect from Russia. Read his gripping story, Through the Eyes of the Enemy.

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