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Washington's future designs are also suspect. Many Arabs fear that the U.S. and other foreign powers will exploit the Middle East's current instability to establish a new, permanent foothold in the region. Some believe that the West actually provoked the crisis to create this opportunity. One far-fetched theory has it that the U.S. and perhaps other allies advised the Emir of Kuwait to ignore Iraq's demands for economic reparations and then gave Saddam a wink and a nod to encourage him to overrun the country. Says a Bahraini civil servant: "There is no doubt in any of my friends' minds that the Americans set the gulf up."
In Saudi Arabia, the country that appeared to be next on Saddam's hit list, support for the alien troops is conditional. The vast majority of Saudis are relieved that the foreigners are protecting them from attack. But most people do not want to have their territory used as the launch pad for an offensive push into Kuwait or Iraq, an option that is clearly under consideration within the Bush Administration and the Saudi royal family.
Naturally, Saddam is getting some of the blame for the perilous state of affairs. The vicious plundering of Kuwait has hardened the views of Saddam's detractors, who are many in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the gulf states particularly. Asks Gehad al-Farnawany, an Egyptian housewife: "How can he claim to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad and then ((send his troops)) $ into houses to rape women?" Though Saddam's support remains firmest among Palestinians, whose frustrated cause he has trumpeted, some are appalled by the tales of Palestinian guest workers who have returned home from Kuwait and Iraq. "His men beat me, spat on me and robbed me of all my savings," says Muhammad al-Arabi, an agricultural worker who recently left Iraq penniless for Cairo.
Still, the systematic destruction of Kuwait does not arouse great outrage or sympathy among all Arabs; the poor are particularly unmoved. The Kuwaitis, especially the ruling royals, are regarded by many Arabs as undeservedly rich, self-indulgent and spoiled. Nor has Saddam's seizure of foreign hostages prompted much indignation. Saddam's sins are constantly measured against those of the Israeli leaders, who, Arabs point out, regularly detain Palestinians for no good cause. So, goes the popular logic, the hostage score is a draw.
Whatever his transgressions, many Arabs believe that at this stage in the conflict, Saddam's belligerence is justified. "You have to understand the Arab psychology," says Sari Nusseibeh, a Palestinian professor of philosophy from East Jerusalem. "What Saddam has done is wrong, but we cannot condemn Iraq for standing up to Western military intervention." In other words, Saddam was wrong to invade Kuwait, and the West was wrong to get involved. But now Saddam is right in standing up to the West's wrong.