World of the Koran: Islam Uber Alles
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under a "greater Islam." This—it was becoming obvious to
me—was the magic carpet that would make the Arabian
Nights dream of women, song, and rivers of wine—Allah's
paradise on earth—come true. It was a powerful stimulant
to anti-Western agitation, regardless of Arab governmental
changes, for the pan-Arab dream transcends all politics.
And come what may, His Majesty's Middle East Office was
not only on the ground floor, but was helping in the maneuvers. I saw this on my visit to the Maghreb Office in Cairo,
established to help the North African Arab States achieve
their independence from France and Spain. Instead of, as I
expected, meeting Arabs there, I was welcomed by a sharpnosed, thin-lipped, toothy Englishwoman named Margaret
Pope, a correspondent of the London Observer. Her comfortable apartment served as the Maghreb Office; her telephone number was its telephone number. I was served drinks
and given information in a fashion that assumed I didn't
know Algeria from Alabama. Throughout Europe and the
Middle East the Americans, I realized, had built up a remarkable reputation for gullibility.
After Miss Pope had welcomed me, "Slim" appeared from
somewhere. Slim—no surname given—was a fast-talking
young man described to me as a Moroccan. He filled the
propaganda plate. Both he and Miss Pope asserted that England was helping the Arabs achieve independence from Spanish imperialism in Algeria and the Moroccos.
"But isn't England also imperialist?" I ventured.
"Yes, she has been," Slim came back swiftly, in perfect
English, accent and all. "But she has given independence to
India and her other former colonies. There is also this difference between British and French imperialism. The British
exploit the country economically. But the French also interfere with its religion, customs, and education. They seek to
Frenchify a colony."
"The French enslave the soul of a people, as well as run dry
the wealth of their country," Miss Pope added.