Thanks to my Uncle Rush who roomed with George W. Bush at Yale, I was able to obtain a private interview with the President at the ranch in Crawford. It also helped the fact that I was born in Waco, a few miles from Crawford and my family is well known in the region, counting among our ancestors two governors, 12 senators and innumerable judges, cattlemen, sheriffs, and a few wildcatters active in the Temple- Austin axis,
"Rush told me that you write about international matters. What do you wish to talk about?"
"The Middle East is the topic of the moment and I hope the moment does not last too long, Mister President"
"Right you are. You see, most people do not realize that we are witnessing a major development resulting from the Arab-Israeli dispute. From a sporadic conflict that lined up disparate groups shielded by local nationalism, we are now witnessing a step up into a religious war."
"That is interesting Mister President. I think you hit it right on the nose. It appears that the conflict is no longer a simple Arab-Israel struggle but a serious posture that confronts Islam and Western civilization"
"You said it, cowboy! You see, the Arabs are now talking about an Islamic Waqf. That means that they wish to extend their a settlement in the entire Middle East, including Turkey, all of North Africa and who knows, the rest of the planet"
"When did this happen, Mister President?"
"From the moment the state of Israel was created. The old pan-Arabism promoted Arab unity and rejection of non-Arab states like Israel. But the concept of unity evaporated with the 6 day war in 1967 when the demarcation of territories was abandoned forcefully and the Palestinians got the worse part of it."
"I guess it was given the final coup when Saddam was eliminated, right?"
"Yup. It also brought a major political change in that it accepted Israel as a small part of Palestine, but not everyone agreed to that. All this allowed those who preferred a pan-Islam base to a shifting faith affected by nationalism. Among these are Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gulf States and Jordan."
"What happened next?" I asked and realized that the President was providing me with a brilliant lecture on a topic of universal concern. It would make my article easier to write.
"The uncertainty of the opinions and positions in the area led to the appearance of groups like Hizballah, glued to Syria's and Iran's skirts, and aspirations to attract other Arab nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and beyond. You will recall that Iran and Hizballah consider Israel's presence as a pending chore which spells plain destruction. Nothing gentle about these ideas."
The President shook his head and reached for another pretzel from the fancy porcelain basket in front of us. I stayed with the corn chips. He continued:
"But matters do not end there, my friend. Once Iran smelled Hizballah's violent campaign against Israel that, incidentally, has angered a good portion of the West, the ambitions of Iran's Ahmadinejad were suddenly evident. It was easy to hear Ahmadinejad as he promoted his vision of a world struggle against the West."
"What sort of international support is Ahmadinejad receiving?"
"Quite a bit. You have probably noticed that several Arab leaders like Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Al Qaida executive, a couple of Syrian gangs, some Palestine groups that had remained on the sidelines, a bunch from Saudi Arabia, a few from the Emirates and even some noisemakers from Jordan, Brazil and Indonesia promptly indicated that they would not be opposed to a coordinated struggle."
Another pretzel and then:
"The vision could be contagious to the Arab nations in the Mediterranean; the Algerian, Moroccan, Libyans, etc. would recall with some distorted pride the days when they battled foreign legions, punitive brigades, assault columns and other romantically-titled platoons of drunken European sergeants, mercenaries and poetic officers. Let us not forget some of the mountain types from Afghanistan, a few strays from Pakistan and even a couple of fanatic groups from India who love to reminisce about the British colonial days and the trouble they caused then."
This description of the entire Middle East situation, while short and to the point, provided a priceless evaluation of one of the major threats to peace and security in this new millennium. I asked many questions to the President which he answered in that attractive cadence of his that evoked the familiar accents of the West with the sober inflections of New England. It was an experience difficult to duplicate.
"Gee, Mister President you sound like Winston Churchill. You are implying that the Judeo-Christian world will again face a united Arab world under Islam in what appears to be a religious war"
"It is not a pretty picture. Someone said that violence is the nature of men and that war and aggression are the tools of faith"
The President was silent for a while. Then I asked him:
"Mister President, what are you going to do about all this?'
"He looked at me and with a sad smile replied"
"No a damned thing!"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you think we have elections for? Let the next mother f---- in the White House take care of all this!"
I laughed so hard that I woke up.
Through a fictional interview, the author discloses several facets of the current differences between the Western World and the Arab Islam world.