Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | The return of Arabophobia: "'I read TE Lawrence before I came here,' a British officer was quoted in the Mail on Sunday. 'A century ago he recognised dishonesty was inherent in Arab society. Today is the same. They do nothing for love and nothing at all if they can help it.'
The attitudes of the officer, shocking though they are, only mirror those of the people who sent him to war. Scratch a neo-con and you find an Arabophobe. Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, has berated Arabs on the 'need to change their behaviour'. Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defence for policy, has talked of Israel's 'moral superiority' over its neighbours. And the veteran foreign policy hawk Richard Perle, when asked about the fears Egyptians had of the Iraq war provoking an Arab backlash, replied: 'Egyptians can barely govern their own country, we don't need advice on how to govern ours.' "