In the Gulf, Quiet Anticipation

Washington Post ^ | 03/14/03 | David Ignatius

[Pokey78]

KUWAIT CITY -- Ali Khalifa Sabah, this country's former minister of oil and finance, arrives for a meeting Wednesday night in the midst of a blinding sandstorm. "God must be Iraqi, or French," he jokes.

A former Saudi diplomat calls puckishly from Jiddah on Wednesday to say that at last he understands America's real aim in the war with Iraq. "Your goal is to topple Tony Blair," he deadpans.

These humorous comments, at a time when the world is facing a deadly serious diplomatic crisis, illustrate something I have discovered in my recent travels in the Middle East: The closer you get to Iraq, the less gloomy people are about the coming war. Saddam Hussein's neighbors know the Iraqi leader for what he is. They may be antiwar, but they're also strongly anti-Hussein. They know that change in Iraq will bring many benefits, as well as risks.

[Torie]

I used to play with David Ignatius, up to the time I was about 8 (he lived across the street). I haven't meant him since. He has since become considerably more famous than I. He spent a considerable portion of his career in the Mideast, based in Cairo, so his opinion deserves consideration. He is also damn smart, and least he was when he was 8 years of age, and I was 7.

[Torie]

"met him since"