I had written a post similar to what Tom says below, except I would say Arab does not only refer to those who trace themselves back to the Arabian peninsula. Iraq, as far as I know, is unambiguously included as one of the Arab states. The Egyptian case illustrates that Arab identity is political as much as ethnic, and that is probably the best sense in which to understand Sadaam, who tried to pass himself off as the reincarnation as Nassar.
Sadaam's claim to fame was as the most successful contender at the end of the 20th century to the tile of leader of the Arab world, which is partly why he kept pretending to have WMD, and why he thought he could keep thumbing his nose at the west and get back-up from the pan-Arab world, even though he was not really an Islamic fundamentalist, and was an oppressor of Shia and other Muslims for most of his career. On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 12:34 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: >> Officially, it is the "al-Arab" channel, which I find odd since >> Hussein was Iraqi, not Arabian. > > Arab refers to an Arabic speaker, not a native of the Arabian > peninsula. Going back centuries, there's the idea of a single Arab > nation and aristocrats in Baghdad, Damascus, and Alexandria (then > Cairo) have contended among themselves as to who would be the leader. > Until the exploitation of the oil fields in the last century, the > Arabian peninsula was a backwater and not a central part of the Arab > world. > > Oddly enough, Egyptians contend that they are not Arabs even as their > leaders jockey for influence in the Arab world. > > Tom > > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
