Posted 8/08/2002 11:19:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Haven't had a lot of time to read the blogs today, so I'm sure someone has already jumped on this from MEMRI. A former Libyan Prime Minister asks the Arab world, "Hasn't the Time Come to Stop Hiding the Flaws." An exerpt:

Why Do Arabs Ignore Their Flaws

Former Libyan prime minister Abd Al-Hamid Al-Bakkoush published an article in the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat titled, "Hasn't the Time Come to Stop Hiding the Flaws." The following are excerpts of the article:

The Arabs Ignore Their Shortcomings and Make Them Virtues

"They say that the camel cannot see his hump. Perhaps this is somewhat descriptive of our behavior. Yet while the camel cannot see, we... do not want to see..."

"Anyone following the affairs in which we engage and of which we write or speak in this era will easily discover that we obliterate our cultural, political, and economic defects. Any observer will discern our supreme efforts to ignore our shortcomings and present them as virtues."

"We do not consent to harbor any flaw, in neither our past nor our present. With regard to our future - well, it is a campaign of achievements and triumphs that cannot be described or enumerated."

It's nice to read one of the few Arabs who recognizes the reality.