The President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahayan, did a good thing by granting political asylum to some supporters of the deposed Iraqi regime including Saddam Hussein’s wife, daughters and grandchildren.

This gesture brings to light a true and noble Arab tradition that has almost disappeared from the Arab political scene and relations between countries and governments. Arab leaders should have never ignored the human aspect of inter-state relations.

The collapse of Iraq brought with it a trail of misery and tragedy that should have reminded Arab leaders never to turn a blind eye to the suffering of Arab women. This is true for the wives and children of officials of the former Iraqi regime regardless of the crimes these officials might have committed. What has happened in Iraq could be repeated in any other Arab country and any Arab regime may suffer the same consequences. Would the Arab leaders then agree to see their honor violated and their wives, children and grandchildren thrown into the street?

Anyone who turns their back on genuine Arab values and traditions should remember the saying “nor can a bearer of burdens bear another burden” when they find themselves in the same situation. Sheikh Zayed was the Arab leader who provided Saddam with a way out that would have allowed him to spare his country the blight of war when he proposed that the Iraqi leader step down. The reaction from Saddam and his aides was to heap scorn on the initiative and its sponsor.

It is the same Sheikh Zayed who has revived the dying Arab qualities of generosity and magnanimity by providing refuge to Saddam’s wife and children.

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A colleague told me I should not have criticized the newly established Governing Council in Iraq for removing the words Allahu Akbar (God is Great) from the country’s flag. He said the matter does not merit the criticism since the two words were put there by Saddam with the sole purpose of winning Muslim sympathy at a particular period of time. But the Governing Council deserves criticism for its action for the following reasons.

Those who watched the fall of Baghdad live on television still remember the American soldier who climbed the statue of Saddam in Al-Fardous Square and wrapped it in the American flag as a reminder that the occupation was here before removing the flag of his country to replace it with an Iraqi flag, from which the words Allahu Akbar had been removed.

It is understandable that the American occupation should seek to erase any sign or symbol that may instill the spirit of determination into the Iraqi people and encourage them to resist the occupation of their country. In the end, this is an occupation that did not come to Iraq to rebuild a nation but to destroy an existing one and would break first its soul, then its army, and then values. To succeed in its mission, the occupation force has to seek the support of its agents and collaborators, who agreed to put themselves at the service of that force, serving it by all means at their disposal.

Perhaps the Council’s move to strike the two words with which Muslims open the call to prayer five times a day will prove a bad omen for its members and lead them into further failure.

(Muhammad Al-Shibani is a Saudi Writer based in Jeddah.)