Slovenly Arab politics are not suited to the era we're in, writes Amin Howeidi* I was at a friend's house in Baghdad in the late 1960s. I was ambassador to Iraq at the time and my friend was Siddiq Shanshal, a veteran politician and one of the founders of the Independence Party. "Look at this tie I have here around my neck," Shanshal said. "It is a Sulka necktie, the best from France. For me, it looks like an Arab headband, or oqal. I should have tied it around my head, not my neck, to keep my straggly hair in place." After a hearty laugh, he added, "most of the Arab politicians I deal with still act as if they were Bedouins living in a clan in the desert. The only thing missing is the tents." He laughed again, showing a couple of gold teeth. Bedouins have their own traditions. Some are worth keeping; others are best forgotten. Most of Arab politics is still caught up in a tribal scene, sailing a desert path with no clear purpose. Arab politics is mostly made up of reactions, not strategy. When the Arabs hear Thomas Friedman singing the praises of the Lexus, they hop into luxury cars without thinking. No wonder they always feel displaced and at a loss. The gap between the Arabs and others has become immense in knowledge and technology. We forget that having the technology is one thing and using it well is another. A tribe stands together against its enemies. Members of the tribe are not supposed to fight among themselves, but only against those who attack them. A tribe is like a fortress, and its unity is the wall that keeps it safe. And yet, we seem to have forgotten the value of unity To this day, the Arabs haven't tested their power against Israel, or any other country for that matter, because they never acted in a united fashion. The Arabs have never had a unified army or command. This is why they always fight at the wrong time, or in a haphazard fashion, and are easy to defeat. The memories are too painful to recount. The Arabs seem to have developed a taste for summit conferences, I am not sure why. Nothing in the Arab League Charter calls for holding summit meetings. The Arab League has a council made up of foreign ministers, and that council is the main decision-making body. Now we're acting as if good decisions should be taken at a high level, which is not necessarily true. Good decisions are the ones that are seen through to the end. What we lack is not just decisions, but the ability to carry them out. There is nothing wrong with the Arab League's system. But something is wrong about the way we're running it. To this day, we insist on taking unanimous decisions, hardly a practical option. So our leaders meet, embrace in front of the cameras, and claim that their views were identical. Then they go home and their decisions are soon forgotten. While others are surging ahead, we're moving at snail's pace. When opportunities come along, we miss them. And we never seem to fully make up our minds. We think with our emotions, not our heads. We don't want to admit that we have differences, so long as we're ready to sort them out. Reaching a compromise solution is better than having no solution at all. Arab politicians have been fighting against their own people, fighting to deprive entire nations of political rights. This is one mother of a fight, and it leaves them with little energy to do the things that matter, such as addressing poverty, ignorance, and foreign threats. We've got all our priorities wrong. Our rulers sacrifice national security to stay in power. Consequently, our land is taken away from us. We spend so much money on weapons, and yet we don't know how and when to use them. We need to take responsibility for our actions and change our path accordingly. We have tremendous capabilities, and we should use them in the best interest of our citizens and countries. We should help our citizens to move ahead, for only then our countries will move ahead. Our world has become a big jungle, and we need to learn again how to survive. We need to look where we're going. * The writer is former defence minister and chief of General Intelligence.
