Sunday, November 28, 2010

Wikileaks: the lies of Arab rulers

What is also striking (or not really) is the extent to which those rulers--just as we say about them--say one thing in private to the US and another thing in public to their people.  In public, all those rulers say that they are opposed to war or to a military strike on Iran.  Look at the Qatari prime minister (whose government in public is a friend of the Iranian regime):  "The cables also expose frank, even rude, remarks about Iranian leaders, their trustworthiness and tactics at international meetings. Abdullah told another US diplomat: "The bottom line is that they cannot be trusted." Mubarak told a US congressman: "Iran is always stirring trouble." Others are learning from what they describe as Iranian deception. "They lie to us, and we lie to them," said Qatar's prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim Jaber al-Thani."