Debunking the Myth of America's Poodle by Nu'man Abd al-Wahid;

Author:Nu'man Abd al-Wahid;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Hunt (NBN)
Published: 2019-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

Returning to Lawrence, who knew the promises, assurances and commitments made by McMahon were lies and not worth the paper they were written on: “It was evident from the beginningthat if we won the war these promises would be dead paper, and had I been an honest advisor of the Arabs I would have advised them to go home and not risk their lives fighting for such stuff…” because as he acknowledged, what was at stake for England was a “cheap and speedy victory in the East, and that better we win and break our word than lose.” 29

Lawrence confirms the British were in a desperate situation in the first half of 1916 when he states that England’s “forces were falling back shattered from the Dardanelles” and the “slow-drawn agony of Kut was in the last stage” before the surrender. 30

In essence, the Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a long and lyrical account of how he defrauded and duped the Arabs of the Hijaz to do British bidding during World War One. At one stage in the revolt he wanted to unload the untarnished truth and let Abdullah, the Sharif’s son, know that “the promises of Great Britain” to his father were worthless: “I longed to tell him that the half-witted old man had obtained from us no concrete or unqualified undertaking of any sort, and that their ship might founder on the bar of his political stupidity; but that would have been to give away my English masters…” 31

Lawrence’s constant references to the promise of freedom and independence in the book are the ruses he used to persuade the Arabs of the Hijaz to lead this revolt against the Ottoman forces. He knew he had no choice but to be duplicitous because the British Empire had already faced three defeats at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and the Americans had not yet entered the war to rescue the British.

He confirmed his double-dealing as the revolt continued and the fraudulence of his business “stung” him: “I was raising the Arabs on false pretences, and exercising a false authority over my dupes…” 32

What’s interesting is that Lawrence admits to the struggle of not only deceiving his Arabs but also the struggle of the need to deceive himself: “The war for me held a struggle to side-track thought, to get into the people’s attitude of accepting the revolt naturally and trustingly. I had to persuade myself that the British government could really keep the spirit of its promises.” 33

The Arab aspirations were nothing more than a ruse in England’s bid to win the war against Germany’s ally, the Ottoman Empire. As he cruelly declares: “I exploited their highest ideals and made their love of freedom one more tool to help England win.” 34

Finally, as the revolt drew to a close Lawrence acknowledges that he had been practising a deceit that “others had framed and set a foot” for 2 years. 35

There is no doubt that if the British Empire had not

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