The advice coming from some Western embassies in the Kingdom and elsewhere in the region that their citizens should have their travel documents in order in case the Iraqi situation gets worse and they have to leave at a moment’s notice has not had any noticeable effect so far; no one is rushing to the airport to catch the first plane out. Nonetheless, it is deeply regrettable. It suggests that expatriates are not going to be safe here if war breaks out. That is rubbish.
No one felt at risk here when Afghanistan was attacked — and for all its harsh and repressive ways, it was a specifically Islamic government that the US overthrew. During the Gulf War, Westerners and other expats did not feel under threat either — despite Iraq’s scud missile attacks on Riyadh and the Eastern Province. That is not going to happen this time. There is no earthly reason to imagine that Iraq is going to target Saudi Arabia. Kuwait might be different: Saddam Hussein has said that if there is war he might re-invade it. That too is unlikely, since all it would achieve would be turn the entire Arab world against him anew, although the possibility of Iraqi missile attacks on the state cannot be ruled out.
Even so, it is interesting that Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, who has just been in Kuwait to reassure the 60,000 Filipinos working there that they will be protected in the event of a war, plans to evacuate them to the Saudi-Kuwaiti border, and from there presumably into Saudi Arabia as happened last time. If the Kingdom is a safe place for Filipinos, then why not for Spaniards or Germans? Why not for Britons or Americans? What is all the fuss about? Does Washington or Berlin or Madrid imagine that the Saudi authorities are incapable of ensuring law and order in the country?
There is another side to these warnings that is also profoundly regrettable. The US travel warning specifically speaks of terrorist threats and attacks against US citizens and interests in the region and the potential for further attacks. The truth is that there have been attacks on Americans and other Westerners in the Gulf. They are to be condemned. Those behind them have acted with a malevolence that borders on racism.
Arabs and Muslims are vehemently opposed to US policies on Iraq and on the Palestinian-Israeli issue. But the argument is with the US government, not with the American people. The same goes for the UK over its support for an attack on Iraq: the argument is with the Blair government not the British people. To attack individual Americans or anyone else because of their government’s policies is repulsive. In any event, what about the anti-war protests in the US and UK? There are plenty of people in the US and UK who have very different views to Messrs Bush and Blair. It needs to be remembered that not even half the electorate, let alone half the population, of the US or the UK voted for them. Similarly there are Arabs who want an invasion of Iraq — and not just Kuwaitis or members of the Iraqi opposition. People are different from governments, and they should not be held individually responsible for what their governments do.
It is not just Americans who need to change their thinking, there are Arabs who have to do so as well.
