In Search of Fair Sheikh
By Tom Plate
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven emirates, each with its own ruler, sits, usually quietly and prosperously, on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, across a long stretch of bay water from Iran.
But last week the UAE had two of its more prominent Sheikhs on public display. They offered such contrasting visions of their home country that, frankly, you were left shaking your head.
The Sheikh that virtually everyone in the world saw - on network news broadcasts and on their YouTube ― was Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan. He is no simple Sheikh. Issa, though not formally a member of the ruling, oil-drenched U.A.E. federation, is a half-brother of the U.A.E. President himself, no less.
Also and alas, Sheikh Issa is now internationally famous as the world's number-one Torture Poster Boy.
He has replaced, if only temporarily, the vivid image of the U.S. torture of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 as the most picturesque miscarriage of justice we have. In gruesome, gritty digital footage smuggled out of the Gulf state, Sheikh Issa, bedecked in flowing white desert robes, is seen pummeling the heck out of a local grain dealer whom he has selected for savaging due to some evident business misunderstanding.
A uniformed police officer of some kind is seen watching and helping. Various well-known tortures are administered ― with the camera rolling and rolling.
The victim is severely violated and beaten and winds up in a hospital. And, it turns out, the pummeling Sheikh has a brother who is the chief cop around, and the police, so far at least, claim to have found no evidence of serious wrongdoing. Of course, that conclusion had nothing to do with any family connection.
Strike one against U.A.E. Sheikhdom then. But that is not the whole story ― it's more complicated.
For just the day before, another prominent Sheikh is prancing in public. This forum is not some off-road sand dune at night, as in the digitally broadcasted beating, but a suave and select dinner seminar hosted in a Los Angeles country club. And there we get to see quite a different Sheikh image.
The honored speaker is His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the Crown Prince and deputy ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, the northernmost Emirate of the United Arab Emirates. Sheikh Khalid is the eldest son of His Highness Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Ruler of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.
For this western appearance before members of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, the Sheikh has evidently left his camel ― and Mercedes ― at home, and the flowing white robes perhaps on a hanger at the hotel. For this audience, he wears a conservative business suit and, though speaking English haltingly, gets his message across for his country in a pleasant and businesslike way.
It is a likable message, and it comes across as sincere. The Crown Prince takes the occasion to announce a ``Pledge for Progress" that seeks to reform his emirate economically and socially. The economy must serve all the people and not just the powerful, he said, and the government must promote the rule of law while promoting popular participation in political life.
It is true that Sheikh Khalid is not some awesome power behind the U.A.E. throne, but as a Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler he is an esteemed member of the Supreme Council and so is undoubtedly very influential and informed. He clearly represents the more enlightened, non-torturing segment of the UAE power elite. Khalid, not Issa, seems the much fairer Sheikh.
Presumably, the two contrasting sheikhs, taken together, bracket a wide and varying horizon of political conduct inside the emirates. To be fair, the U.A.E. is no more a nation of torturers than is the U.S. Perhaps, therefore, the U.A.E. President himself will step forward boldly, as has U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama, to renounce torture and other misconduct of people who are in custody for whatever reason.
Perhaps that step needs to come soon. For one thing, the U.A.E. is on the verge of receiving an India-like deal where American civilian-nuclear technology for energy development is provided in appropriate abundance. But Congress will hold off delivering on that offer if it decides the UAE is not the society of the good Sheikh Khalid but of the bad Sheikh Issa.
Right now public opinion, here and in the world, is undecided. Only a true and important Sheikh can break the tie. That would be Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the president. He needs to do the right thing, quickly. He needs to act Presidential.
Journalist Tom Plate, former American university professor and author of "Confessions of an American Media Man", was editor of the editorial pages of the Los Angeles Times (1989-95). He has also worked at Newsday, Time and New York Magazine. He can be reached at platecolumn@gmail.com.