This is \u201cArab unity\u201d as we have never seen it before. But watch out.<\/i><\/p>\n
And so, for the first time in recent history, it seems that the \u201cwar against terror\u201d \u2013 and specifically against al-Qa\u2019ida \u2013 is being fought by Middle East regimes rather than their foreign investors.<\/p>\n
Sure, American drones still smash into al-Qa\u2019ida operatives, wedding parties and innocent homes in Pakistan. But it\u2019s General al-Sisi of Egypt, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq, President Hassan Rouhani of Iran \u2013 even powerless President Michel Sleiman of Lebanon \u2013 who are now fighting \u201cterrorists\u201d.<\/p>\n
It shows how powerful the bad guys have become that mutually antagonistic dictators and satraps can gang together against America\u2019s enemy. This is \u201cArab unity\u201d as we have never seen it before. The Ottoman Empire lives again. But watch out.<\/p>\n
You need to put on a tin hat to avoid the ironies crashing out of the sky. John Kerry \u2013 now the most outrageously funny Secretary of State in US history, he who promised an \u201cunbelievably small\u201d airstrike against Syria \u2013 says America supports the secular rebels against Assad, who are fighting the Islamist rebels who are fighting against Assad even though the US still wants the overthrow of \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 Bashar al-Assad.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Saudis are still pouring money into Syria to help the al-Qa\u2019ida-associated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) \u2013 against whom Bashar and the secular Free Syrian Army are now fighting \u2013 while the Saudis also contribute billions to Sisi\u2019s army in Egypt which is fighting identical al-Qa\u2019ida-linked \u201cterror\u201d in Sinai and now, it appears, in Cairo itself. And if you are confused by all this, try Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Last week, the authorities claimed to have arrested Majid bin Mohamed al-Majid, one of the \u201cmost wanted\u201d al-Qa\u2019ida men in Saudi Arabia. All they had to do to confirm this extraordinary detention was to use DNA to check the man\u2019s identity. This came only weeks after Lebanese Shias blamed Saudi \u201cterrorists\u201d for blowing up the Iranian embassy in Beirut, an attack followed by the assassination of a prominent Sunni politician and then \u2013 last week \u2013 by a further attack on Shias in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital. No sooner had Sunni ex-minister Mohammed Chatah been car-bombed to death, than the Americans promised more money to the Lebanese army. How, then, could the Lebanese avoid being drawn into the \u201canti-terrorist\u201d war after arresting Majid? Miraculously \u2013 and there have been a lot of miracles in the Middle East region, as we all know \u2013 the Lebanese not only confirmed that they had indeed got the right man, but that he had regrettably died of organ failure while in their custody. Phew!<\/p>\n
But US support for the Lebanese military will go ahead. Just as Washington is now offering more missiles and planes to the Shia sub-dictator President Maliki of Iraq if he goes on biffing Sunni insurgents and al-Qa\u2019ida men in Anbar province. History, of course, repeats itself in Fallujah and Ramadi, the two cities repeatedly conquered and then re-conquered and then re-conquered for a third time by US forces after the illegal invasion of 2003. In 2004, the Marines claimed they had wiped out al-Qa\u2019ida in Fallujah, then handed the city over to Baathist policemen. Then the Americans virtually destroyed the city around the heads of al-Qa\u2019ida after another few months \u2013 we will not mention the use of US phosphorous shells and the outbreak of childbirth abnormalities more than five years later \u2013 and now the largely Shia Iraqi army is fighting the Sunni tribesmen of Fallujah. Who are in turn (be patient, readers) claiming they are fighting the local al-Qa\u2019ida groups, just as the Free Syrian Army insists that it is now in combat against the same al-Qa\u2019ida groups in Syria.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Kerry \u2013 who has not invited the Iranians to the Geneva 2 talks on Syria \u2013 says Iran might play a valuable role \u201con the sidelines\u201d (has ever an invitation to Iran appeared more insulting?) while the main Syrian opposition forces have no intention of taking part in the Swiss conference. Geneva 2, in other words, is a dead duck; just like the Palestinian-Israeli talks of which Kerry still speaks with optimism \u2013 a sure sign that this particular duck is also dying.<\/p>\n
Who now remembers the Arab Awakening \u2013 or \u201cspring\u201d as some of my colleagues still insist on calling it? Well, let\u2019s just take a look at an ominous statement this past weekend in which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the latest bomb in Beirut \u2013 the one that killed at least four civilians in the Hezbollah suburbs. So now Isil \u2013 as I suppose we must call it \u2013 acknowledges it is fighting on three fronts: Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. So we have Arab regime unity at last. As for America \u2013 well, I guess they\u2019ll go on supporting the Free Syrian Army which is fighting al-Qa\u2019ida which is fighting Bashar whom Washington wants to dethrone.<\/p>\n
America\u2019s Muslim Brotherhood friends in Egypt have just been formally classed as \u201cterrorists\u201d by Sisi who is supported by the country which is paying \u2013 long live Salafism \u2013 for Islamist \u201cterror\u201d in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. And Saudi Arabia \u2013 the key to the whole fandango, though no one will say this \u2013 remains a close and \u201cmoderate\u201d friend of America. Say no more.<\/p>\n
Let there be an end to all these clich\u00e9s<\/strong><\/p>\n Linguistic resolutions for 2014: an end to clich\u00e9s, to invented words and to verbal lies.<\/p>\n Please may we have no more guns that \u201cfall silent\u201d, not a single politician \u201con the campaign trail\u201d, no more \u201cdeadly\u201d ambushes\/riots\/wars, diseases and \u2013 please \u2013 no more \u201ciconic\u201d paintings or personalities. And no more \u201ceponymous\u201d events. Nor \u201cdystopian\u201d narratives. I fear I\u2019ve committed a few of these sins in my past (I distinctly remember \u201ciconic\u201d). But no excuse.<\/p>\n Let me never have to read again of \u201cnegativity\u201d or \u201cpositivity\u201d or \u2013 most ghastly of all \u2013 \u201csuicidality\u201d. A close second: \u201cgendering\u201d. Let us have done with politicians, families and villages which have to \u201ccome to terms\u201d with grief, who \u201cseek closure\u201d or need to \u201cmove on\u201d (the latter an officially declared \u2013 and understandable \u2013 desire of the Labour Party over Iraq).<\/p>\n Please, less \u201cshuttle\u201d diplomacy\u201d, fewer \u201ctit-for-tat\u201d killings and no more cities \u201cunder lockdown\u201d. And no more bloody \u201cspace\u201d: editors should ban all references to \u201ctheatrical space\u201d, \u201cpsychological space\u201d and \u201cpublic space\u201d.<\/p>\n The same goes for television listings: let there be an end to \u201cfestive\u201d events\/programmes\/editions\/spirits\/giggles (I kid thee not)\/games\/songs\/food.<\/p>\n Please don\u2019t talk about \u201cissues\u201d when you mean \u201cproblems\u201d. And if there are any real issues, don\u2019t \u201cprioritise\u201d them. Suffocate any \u201cspokesperson\u201d who, after hours of airport delays, announces that he apologises \u201cif anyone has been inconvenienced\u201d. And let me croak if I ever have to read again that oldest of clunkers which appeared in last week\u2019s Irish Times, which announced the engagement of a regional sports star: \u201cClare captain pops the question\u201d. Aaaaaaaaaagh, indeed.<\/p>\n _____________________________<\/p>\n Robert Fisk, based in Beirut, is a multiple award-winning journalist on the Middle East and a <\/i>correspondent for <\/i>The Independent, a UK newspaper.\u00a0 He is the author of many books on the region, including The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n