One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Once upon a time there was an Arab leader whose initials were H.B. He spoke beautiful French and was often called A Friend of the West. One of his best friends was the great general with the long nose across the sea. Many people suspected that he sheltered the general’s enemies, but to this he invariably replied: “Ain’t nobody here but us chickens.”

H.B. had a problem. Other Arabs thought the general was a dirty colonialist rat. When H.B. pointed out that the general had withdrawn all his soldiers from the country, no strings attached, they replied: “Oh yeah? What about Bizerte?” Sometimes they would become quite irrational and scream, “The general’s mother wears army shoes!” Occasionally, they resorted to humor. (One angry young wag in Tunis is reported to have asked, “What’s for Bizerte?”) H.B. always responded to this criticism from brother Arabs by advising moderation. For this, he was justly famous.

WD

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W. H. von Dreele

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Once upon a time there was an Arab leader whose initials were H.B. He spoke beautiful French and was often called A Friend of the West. One of his best friends was the great general with the long nose across the sea. Many people suspected that he sheltered the general’s enemies, but to this he invariably replied: “Ain’t nobody here but us chickens.”

H.B. had a problem. Other Arabs thought the general was a dirty colonialist rat. When H.B. pointed out that the general had withdrawn all his soldiers from the country, no strings attached, they replied: “Oh yeah? What about Bizerte?” Sometimes they would become quite irrational and scream, “The general’s mother wears army shoes!” Occasionally, they resorted to humor. (One angry young wag in Tunis is reported to have asked, “What’s for Bizerte?”) H.B. always responded to this criticism from brother Arabs by advising moderation. For this, he was justly famous.