Word: shahs
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...preparation for a lunch of chicken and rice. Observance of the ancient ritual of Arabian hospitality was reminiscent of his introduction to the exotic culture of the region 44 years ago. At age 12, Schwarzkopf spent a year in Iran, where his father, a major general, trained the Shah's imperial police during World...
...initial printing (125,000 copies) is large for a children's book, which is what Haroun and the Sea of Stories at first appears to be. But hold on. The tale seems eerily parallel to Rushdie's predicament. There is a storyteller named Rashid Khalifa, also known as the Shah of Blah, who loses the gift of the gab and can no longer entertain. What's worse, his condition is mysteriously linked to a fanatic cult that wants to wipe out not only made-up tales but also human speech. Children may take all this as make- believe, but adult...
...1970s produced a few sprouts of freedom. Women appeared on TV for the first time, and educational opportunities for them were expanded. But the overthrow of the Westernizing Shah of Iran by the Ayatullah Khomeini's followers in 1979 froze the budding trend toward liberalization. Later that year, the royal family was shocked when 250 armed religious extremists occupied the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Their defeat took two weeks and cost 229 lives. Suddenly the regime became more devout. Executions were stepped up. And the mutawa, the religious police, gained greater influence. Its members patrol the streets carrying slender sticks...
...American presence is not just protection for the status quo," says a businessman. "We assume it will bring an improvement in the integrity of the government." From Washington's viewpoint, however, pushing Fahd and family down the fast track to Westernization and democratization is a likely prescription for a Shah-like disaster. Swift liberalizations could easily stir religious extremists to revolt. "If there's an internal threat to the kingdom," says a U.S. expert on Saudi Arabia, "it's from fundamentalists on the right, not liberalizers on the left...
...Saddam nearly brought his regime to ruin when he attacked Iran. He had once given refuge to the Ayatullah Khomeini, then, under pressure from the Shah, expelled him. Not only did Saddam want disputed territory, but he was also provoked when Khomeini began calling for the overthrow of Saddam's "blasphemous" regime. He is a Sunni Muslim, though most Iraqis belong to the rival Shi'ite branch, as did Khomeini. Saddam responded by invading, confident that his powerful, Soviet-equipped army could easily smash the Ayatullah's ragtag militia, but the Iranians fought back. When the going got especially rough...