In the Grip of Middle Eastern Chaos, Even Lying Becomes a Challenge!!

A lie is an intentional false statement.

This is not in praise of lying.  It is in demonstrating that the Arabs, while in the grip of total chaos, cannot even lie well.  The examples are endless.  So we shall offer here limited samples.  Samples of both lies and chaos.

"The Houthis in Yemen are Iranian agents."  A lie!!  The war in Yemen is an inter-tribal event.  The north is tribal and Houthi dominated.  The south is developed and wants to split from the north.  I authored for the World Bank a study on Yemen and judicial reform.

"Islam is of two kinds: Sunni and Shii."  A lie!!  There is a difference between faith and ice cream.  Faith is in the heart; ice cream is on the tongue.  Faith does not come in flavors: Sunni and Shii.  Ice cream comes in many flavors.  The Sunni-Shii thing is a mere cover for a fight 1400 years ago on who is the rightful successor (Khalifa) of Muhammad.  My present authorship of a biography in English on Ali evidences that his partisans (Shiis) have a logical claim.  Does such a claim in regard to succession make of the Shias apostates?  Nonsense.

"Iran has claimed for itself Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut and Sanaa, not as Arab capitals of independent Arab States, but as under Tehran hegemony."  A lie!!  That statement was never uttered by Tehran as an official statement.  It was a statement by an unofficial person who felt a bit of Persian triumphalism which means nothing.

"Hezbollah is a credible counter-weight to Israel's military might."  A lie!!  Yes Hezbollah stood its ground in 2006 in spite of Israeli huge pounding.  But standing its ground, and gaining grounds are two different proposals.  I wonder with amazement how the intervention by Hezbollah on the side of a killer called Al-Assad can help the cause of Hezbollah in either Lebanon or in the Palestinian/Israeli confrontation.

"Saddam should have been left to rule over Iraq securing its territorial unity."  A lie!!  Like Bashar of today, killer Saddam merely kept the lid on a boiling pot through resort to genocide against both the Kurds and the Shias.  I was in Iraq six times after the American war of choice on Iraq.  I have never met either a Kurd or a Shia or a Sunni who lamented his disappearance.

"The Egypt of El-Sisi, in its closure of the Rafah Crossing, is depriving the Gazans from even breathing."  A lie!!  Rafah is not a toll booth on a highway between Gaza and El-Arish in Sinai.  If the Gazans want access to Sinai, let them convince Hamas to abandon its Charter.  Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, while Hamas claims that not one grain of sand in historic Palestine should be claimed by the Jews.

"The Yemen war is a trap manufactured by the US to weaken Saudi Arabia."  A lie!!  Who in his right mind would expect the U.S. to encourage the Houthis to threaten Saudi Arabia and the security of the sea lanes to and from Suez?  And please make up your mind: Are the Houthis pawns of Iran or pawns of America?  They cannot be both.  Why?  Because they are neither.

"The Arab United Armed Forces has little support in the Arab world."  A lie!!  First, at the Arab Summit in Sharm El-Sheikh in late March, reservations were made about it by only four Arab States: Iraq, Qatar, Lebanon, and Algeria.  That is four out of a total of 21 States.  Second: No poll has been conducted in the Arab world about that.  Third: The Arabs have been hungering for a rebirth of the League of Arab States.  The coalition, as led by Saudi Arabia, is voluntary and its sphere of action is confined to limited engagements.

"ISIS is everywhere and its territorial gains are increasing, covering an area from Nigeria to Pakistan."  A lie!!  Just look at the map.  No territorial contiguity for ISIS.  Except in the no-man lands north-east of Syria and north-west of Iraq.  I was in Anbar, Iraq.  No border markers in that open desert.  Pledges of fealty to ISIS from various corners of the Arab/Muslim huge expanse are largely video fantasies intended for psychological warfare.

"El-Sisi is losing the adulation of large sectors of the Egyptian public."  A lie!! The popular bang at the beginning of his presidency is now translated to nation-building inside Egypt.  Thanks God, there are no high profile Nasser-like excursions about Egypt being "the leader of the Arab world."  Egypt should always be pre-occupied with Egypt.  The enormous mountains of need have to gradually come down in terms of meeting the basic needs of 100 millions.  Nearly a third of the Arab world.

"The Muslim Brotherhood has a huge  influence over Washington, D.C."  A lie!!  One photo op at the U.S. State Department does not arise to the level of a Brotherhood lobby in the U.S. Capital.  The fact remains that US media, thanks to correspondents like David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times in Cairo, has kept a drumbeat regarding the June 30 Revolution being a coup.  But the recent actions by the Obama administration which released lethal armament to Egypt shows a disconnect.  Except in the case of Israel, US media and policy considerations in America are mostly not directly related.

"The Egyptian judiciary, in dealing with cases of detainees, whether Egyptian or non-Egyptian, is a political tool of El-Sisi government."  A lie!!  Egypt's judiciary is immunized from such pressures.  Admittedly, mass sentences do not usually accord with the proper law of evidence.  But as a whole, if you are caught even as a bystander at an illegal demonstration (no license), you might be presumed guilty. After all, presence is a form of participation.

"The use of Egyptian armed forces outside of Egypt is contrary to the Constitution of 2014."  A lie!!  First, read that Constitution.  No such provisions in it.  Second, national defense does not stop at the national border.  Third, there is the Arab Defense Pact of 1950, an inter-Arab treaty without Arab borders.

"For Egypt, the present Yemen War is a repeat of the Yemen War of 1962-1968."  A lie!!  In the 1960's, Nasser acted on his own, by throwing Egypt's armed forces in the oven of an inter-tribal civil war.  The goal was to vanquish Arab monarchies in favor of Arab republicanism.  Egypt suffered massive defeat and further antagonized Saudi Arabia, the other Gulf States, Jordan and Iran of the Shah.  This time, in 2015, Egypt's involvement is through a decision of the Sharm El-Sheikh Arab Summit.  And clear Egyptian national interest in the security of the Suez and the Gulf are implicated.

"Iran has always been an enemy of America."  A lie!!  The U.S. intervened in Iranian internal affairs by toppling Prime Minister Mossadeq in 1953.  In his place, America helped re-install the Shah against popular will.  The lesson to be learnt by all, including Iran and the U.S. of today, is: intervention in the internal affairs of other States shall always backfire.  Under international law, Iran of the Ayatollahs is entitled to freely manage its own internal affairs.  But no revolution for hegemony is exportable.

"The Secretary-General of "Khorasan," a terrorist militia organization active in Iraq, announced that they recognize only Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Guide of the Islamic Republic of Iran."  A compounded lie.  First: Khorasan confuses between shiism and "the Rule by the Jurist" (Wilayet Al-Faqih).  The Rule by the Jurist came into vogue only with Khomenei in 1979.  Second: Khorasan, which claims that the Islamic world is borderless, manifests utter ignorance.  Admission to UN membership and regional organization is one of many indications of border legitimation.  Third: Khorasan manifests ignorance of the term "Islamic Umma."  In Islamic jurisprudence, "Umma" does not mean "nation."  It means "community."  

Conclusion: In the midst of massive chaos in the Arab world, even lying becomes a challenge!!  These lies must have been produced by amateurs!!  Engaged in hashish smoking!!