To enable one country to appreciate what another people really thinks and desires is both the most difficult and the most vital task which confronts us. -- John Bagot Glubb, Britain and the Arabs: A Study of Fifty Years 1908-1958, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1959), p. 147
John Bagot Glubb's Published Works
1. The Story of the Arab Legion
3. Britain and the Arabs: A Study of Fifty Years, 1908 to 1958
4. War in the Desert: An R.A.F. Frontier Campaign
7. The Course of Empire: The Arabs and Their Successors
8. The Lost Centuries: From the Muslim Empires to the Renaissance of Europe, 1145 -1453
9. The Middle East Crisis: A Personal Interpretation
10. Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan
11. A Short History of the Arab Peoples
12. The Life and Times of Muhammad
13. Peace in the Holy Land: An Historical Analysis of the Palestine Problem
14. Soldiers of Fortune: The Story of the Mamlukes
15. The Way of Love
16. Haroon al Rasheed and the Great Abbasids
17. Into Battle: A Soldier's Diary of the Great War
18. The Fate of Empires and Search for Survival
19. Arabian Adventures: Ten Years of Joyful Service
20. The Changing Scenes of Life: An Autobiography
With his thirty-six years of service in the Middle East, John Bagot Glubb learned a great deal about life in the desert, the Bedouin tribes, and war-fighting. The following quotes were taken from his books The Story of the Arab Legion, Britain and the Arabs, A Soldier with the Arabs, and Arabian Adventures and were selected due to their relevancy to today's fight in Iraq and, to a somewhat lesser degree, in Afghanistan. I have respectively assigned each book an abbreviation (SAL, BA, SA, and AA) which is listed at the end of the quote so that the reader may look up the reference.
The Tribes of Arabia
Tribal Structure
1. The tribe was a community which went on for ever, because it was based on family relationship, not on the ups and downs of politics. (p. 120) (SAL)
2. Tribal solidarity was the basis of bedouin life. (p. 85) (SAL)
3. The Arab tribesman will accord theoretical and verbal respect to the old families of chiefs, but he will rarely accord them obedience in practice. He constantly opposes and argues against his shaikh. Not infrequently he loses his temper, creates a violent scene and hastens to strike his tent and move away to join the following of some other chief who will treat him with more consideration. Amongst Bedouins freedom always tended to degenerate into anarchy -- but free they were- freer perhaps than any other race in the world. (p.41) (SAL)
4. The Arab tribe was, and in most cases still is, so democratic as to be almost entirely lacking in discipline. The ordinary tribal shaikh has no power to enforce compliance with his decisions. Tribal law is, therefore, based on the absence of any central authority, and hence on the absence of punishment. It is, in fact, little more than civil law, laying down the compensation to be paid to the aggrieved party. Even where damages are awarded, however, there are no police to enforce payment unless the plaintiff can himself collect it. Thus, in tribal law there is no State interested in punishing offenders in order to deter others from crime. There is only the aggrieved party seeking justice. In order, however, to give some security to individuals, the tribe, the section and the family support the aggrieved party in obtaining his rights. (p. 176) (SAL)
5. An Arab tribe is usually full of rival claimants to leadership, family feuds and jealousies. Informers are only too —to give malicious reports against their fellows. (p. 76) (SAL)
6. On the Tigris, the tribal shaikh controlled larger areas, but even so he, like his followers, was a tribesman and in theory their cousin. (p. 372) (BA)
7. Another aspect of tribal law is that the same crime differs according to the circumstances and the identity of the victim. To murder or rob a member of an enemy tribe (in the days of tribal war) was, of course, no crime at all. To kill a man of another but friendly tribe cost the murderer only seven camels in compensation. To kill a man of his own tribe would cost fifty camels and many other expenses. In either case, if the victim were at the time a guest of the murderer, the compensation would be quadrupled. (p. 176) (SAL)
Tribal Values
1. The desert tribes of the interior live in circumstances which differ strikingly from those of the Mediterranean coast. Desert climatic conditions are so severe that the mere struggle for human survival is intense. The surroundings in which they live have there produced a hardy race, endowed with martial qualities and with a practical, as opposed to an intellectual or theoretical turn of mind. (p. 36) (SA)
2. The Arabs in general are hot-headed, hasty and volatile. They are proud and touchy, ready to suspect an insult and hasty to avenge it. To hate their enemies is to them not only a natural emotion but a duty. Should any man claim to forgive an enemy, they find it difficult to believe in his sincerity and suspect a trap. Politically they tend, like the proverbial Irishman, to be against the government. Of whatever form or complexion it may be, they are usually ready to change it, though they may later on regret their action and wish to return to their former state. It is easy to conquer any Arab country, but their natural inclination to rebellion makes it difficult and expensive for the invader to maintain his control. Their mutual jealousies, however, provide their rulers with the means of playing them off against one another, an art which they themselves consider to be of the very essence of politics. But while their hot-bloodedness makes the Arabs good haters, it makes them also cordial friends. No race can be more pleasant or charming. They are delightful company, with a ready sense of humour. In one quality, the Arabs lead the world -- it is the virtue of hospitality, which some of them carry to a degree which becomes almost fantastic. (p. 37) (SA)
3. The idea of protection of the weak is fundamental to Arab ideas of honour, just as it was in European chivalry. (p. 152) (SAL)
4. The absence of a settled government to whom the oppressed could appeal may also have given rise to the system of knightly protection of the weak. (p. 152) (SAL)
5. Arab honour prescribes that the warrior must give his poor neighbours precedence before his nearest relatives and must defend their interests with his life. (p. 153) (SAL)
6. Indeed, the most attractive quality of tribesmen of the old school is that they are almost unaware of social distinctions, and thus are always natural. (p. 78) (SAL)
7. The quality most universally and most justly associated with the Arabs is hospitality. This quality they carry to extremes unconnected with the everyday world, and worthy of fairyland alone. Arab hospitality, life Arab courage, is fantastic, dramatic, romantic and unconnected with the practical needs of the situation. The Arab tribesman, clad often in rags and frequently hungry, lives in a world of dreams in which he behaves like a fairy Prince Charming. (pp. 154-155) (SAL)
8. The bedouins pride themselves on their honesty in preserving property left with them for safe custody. (p. 157) (SAL)
9. The Arab tribesman has an intense sense of the dramatic. He is carried away by a striking situation or a noble gesture. (p. 158) (SAL)
10. Tribesmen take great pride in remembering a past favour, and in repaying their benefactor by similar kindnesses when occasion offers. (pp. 137-138) (SAL)
11. His pride being thus salved, a poor bedouin will often forgo the prospect of wealth in order to make a dramatic gesture of forgiveness before a noble audience. (p. 159) (SAL)
12. This spirit of romance used to -- and indeed still does- control much of Arab life. The thirst for praise and a love of dramatic actions outweighs the dictates of reason or the material needs of a poor people. (p. 159) (SAL)
13. In all the difficulties of my life in Arabia, I have met with success when I have appealed to Arab honour. (p. 206) (SAL)
14. When we say that the bedouin is self-seeking, we do not mean that he is calculating how to build up a fortune. Such an idea scarcely enters his head. It is true that he will rob a traveler and tear his clothes from his back, but this is rather as a child will snatch a toy that has caught his eye. The bedouin robber will celebrate his success by inviting his friends to a meal which will cost him more than the loot he captured. But his passion is glory -- his own personal glory. Such being his ambition, he will admire the romantic heroes of Arab history and legend and the great raiders of his own day and tribe. But he will be bitterly jealous of his rivals and contemporaries, who may outshine him in prowess. The keys of his character are thirst for praise and pre-eminence. Poets and women are the arbiters in the contest for glory, and wandering poets can always win distinction and rewards by celebrating in their ballads the deeds of chiefs and warriors. A life of danger and vicissitudes in great open countries will, perhaps, always produce an heroic culture of this type. . . . Divided by such marked characteristics from the world of town dwellers, the bedouins considered themselves as the elite of the human race. (pp. 148-149) (SAL)
15. Amongst the bedouins, who lived in a world of violence, bloodshed and war, gentleness was not mistaken for cowardice. Intimacy with Arab tribesmen enabled me to visualize more clearly the age of chivalry in England. In contrast to the respectable sameness of Suburbia, the ages of both English and Arab chivalry impressed by their violent contrasts and deep emotions. I have seen among the Arabs depths of hatred, reckless bloodshed and lust of plunder of which our lukewarm natures seem no longer capable. I have seen deeds of generosity worthy of fairy-tales and acts of treachery of extraordinary baseness. Unscrupulous men of violence, and others so gentle that they could scarcely have lived in modern England. The Arabs, like all other races, are neither all saints nor all sinners. But the contrasts between them are more striking and dramatic than those which are outwardly perceptible between the inhabitants of Western Europe. (p. 161) (SAL)
16. His Highness [King Abdullah I of Jordan] had reiterated again and again that he and his country would live or die with Britain. "Arabs do not abandon their friends just because the times are bad," he said. (p. 346) (SAL)
17. The fact is that to divide and rule is regarded among the Arabs as a fundamental basis of politics, with the result that Britain has been almost inevitably accused of practising it. (p. 270) (BA)
18. Those who read the history of earlier centuries, or who have been fortunate in living in intimacy with still existing peoples who have not yet been modernized, are struck by the extraordinary contrasts which they encounter. The depths of villainy and brutality on the one hand, the almost unbelievable heights of saintliness or heroism on the other. No such variegated human picture survives in the West. (pp. 420-421) (BA)
Tribal Life
1. The sanctity of the tent comes first. If the Englishman's house is his castle, the Arab tent is a sanctuary not only for himself but for all the world who may appeal to it. (p. 136) (SAL)
2. There are two things which the desert traveler or raider learns to recognize in the mists of the blue distance -- black tents and camels. These things mean to the traveler hospitality, shelter, food and company instead of another night of half-asleep with one eye open, in the open waste with the headrope of this riding camel tied to his wrist. To the raider, they mean battle and loot, or death or humiliation -- the arrival of the moment of crisis. (pp. 138-139) (SAL)
3. Life in a black tent in the desert is often extremely arduous to any but a bedouin. (p. 143) (SAL)
4. But we discovered unexpectedly that raiding had been not only a pastime for the chivalry of Arabia but also a social-security system of which our ill-timed intervention had destroyed the balance. (p. 169) (SAL)
5. The most obvious means of livelihood for nomad paupers was agriculture, but to inaugurate it required something of a minor revolution. For the bedouins regarded themselves as a race of aristocrats, to whom manual labour would be a humiliation. Mere wealth weighed for nothing in their eyes compared to the preservation of their traditions. (p. 169) (SAL)
6. These three old men had been calm and wise old sages, with the profound wisdom and knowledge of human life which is sometimes achieved by illiterate old men who have not cluttered up their minds with quantities of irrelevant information derived from books. Gifted by nature with penetrating intellects, their knowledge of life had been acquired by direct observation, uninfluenced by clever theories derived from books or the press. (p. 199) (AA)
Tribesmen as Fighters
1. The Arabs have always become formidable soldiers when a religious movement has reinforced their martial virtues. (p. 67) (SAL)
2. For the bedouin's chief pleasure in life is to bear arms, and the simultaneous abolition of raiding drove the most gallant and enterprising young men into the service. (p. 103) (SAL)
On Fighting a Guerilla War
1. The only way to defeat guerillas is with better guerillas, not by the methods of regular warfare. (p. 241) (SAL)
2. Frontier areas are always good places for bandits. If they see the police approaching from one side they can always step across the frontier into the other country. (p. 245) (SAL)
3. Guerilla warfare depends chiefly for its success on the support of the people of the country. Guerillas cannot have regular lines of communication, and are obliged to resort to the villagers for food and shelter and for their intelligence as to the movements of Government forces. (p. 238) (SAL)
4. In any form of guerilla warfare, considerable ground work is necessary firstly in the way of securing leaders, and secondly in the formation of an entourage around each leader, the smuggling of arms, equipment and money, and the preparation of plans. (p. 279) (SAL)
5. The cavalry had found the key to this gang warfare in keeping the enemy on the move. The rebel bands were obliged to live on the country, and the country was not particularly anxious to be lived on, although the villagers were too afraid of the gangs to offer active resistance. (p. 240) (SAL)
6. To the religious fanatic, all the human race except his own sect are enemies of God, deserving of extermination. With such persons, there can be no question of sport, honour or fair play. (p. 149) (AA)
7. I have often found that when I was afraid, the best course was to advance towards the enemy. (p. 95) (SAL)
8. The experience of life teaches us that money is but a superficial incentive, and mercenary motives cannot produce heroism. With the Arabs in particular, it is vital to remember the existence of a capacity for passionate and heroic courage . . . All of a sudden appears a cause or a leader possessing the flaming quality which can inspire the exalted courage that lies hidden deep in the Arab character. Suddenly they throw away money in disgust or exaltation, and develop a courage which staggers, if it does not sweep away, their astonished opponents. (pp. 253-254) (SAL)
9. Soldiers are always extremely particular about seniority and the chain of command -- doubtless rightly, for disaster can scarcely fail to overtake a force which has competing rival commanders. (p. 268) (SAL)
10. For I believe the Arab tribesman to be first-class military material. I am convinced that they are the same men who conquered half the world 1,300 years ago. (p. 355) (SAL)
Service to the Nation
1. Above all, let us not take "a higher standard of living" as our motto. Mankind, no matter the colour of his skin, is of too noble stuff to be attracted by such low ideals. Rather let us take human brotherhood as our objective; there is wealth in plenty for all, if we were not jealous of one another. (p. 445) (BA)
2. A few generations ago, the flower of Britain's youth had served overseas, believing that they were sacrificing themselves to a great and humane task. When they were told that service overseas was mean and unworthy, they turned to industry or commerce for their life's work. Thus the quality of service rendered by Britain in Asia and Africa became lowered as a result of the destruction of imperial idealism. (p. 450) (BA)
3. On the humble level on which I have served, I have formed the opinion that people do appreciate a man whose life is genuinely dedicated to selfless service in complete sincerity. Such men have seemed to me more effective leaders than the politicians, who seek popular support by promising the voters more money. (p. 216) (AA)
4. In time of war, soldiers have always been regarded with respect, perhaps with enthusiasm, because they have been felt to be men dedicated to a cause, in the service of which they were ready to suffer privations, wounds or death. The most noble soldiers, in all ages and countries, have developed a mystique of sacrifice, which has caused them joyfully to face death, as martyrs for a splendid cause. . . . These ideals of military sacrifice were still alive in Britain in 1914, when soldiers believed themselves to be peculiarly destined to give themselves to wounds or death in order to protect the weak, the women and the children. (pp. 465-466) (BA)
5. Britain will be revitalized as soon as her citizens abandon selfish materialism, and offer to her in simple sincerity the service of their lives. (p. 217) (AA)
6. For the rest, 1927 left me ever afterwards with an intense aversion to party politics which so often tempt those who indulge in them to place the interests of their party before those of their country. (p. 171) (AA)
Working in the Middle East
7. The Arabic-speaking countries are easy to conquer. They are not as yet consolidated and organized, as are the Western Powers. The troubles of the would-be invader only begin when the conquest is over. Insufficiently organized to oppose a regular army in battle, these people are experts at sedition, conspiracy and rebellion. (p. 113) (BA)
8. The factor which emerged most clearly in my mind was that the Ottomans and their immediate Arab successors (most of whom had previously served under them) had lacked a positive outlook. The tribes were disorderly and, therefore, their power must be forcibly destroyed. Nobody had ever thought of converting the tribes from their lawless ways and leading them to a better way of life. This would have required sympathetic and positive leadership, which had hitherto been totally lacking. The policy had always been limited to smashing all opposition. (p. 76) (AA)
9. To a great part of the world the desert means fear, exhaustion or at best discomfort. For ten years, it replaced for me the relaxation, the happiness and the affection of home. (p. 234) (SAL)
10. Lord Cromer [British consul-general and diplomatic agent in Egypt] had, in English politics, a tendency to liberalism, though his policy in Egypt had been governed by the facts on the situation rather than by political theories. (p. 186) (BA)
11. The liberals adopted the theoretically obvious solution. They decided to expedite the rate of democratization, in order to set up a popular authority as a check on the autocracy of the khedive and, at the same time, to make concessions to Egyptian political independence. It was an early example of the many equally false solutions to similar problems which Britain and the U.S.A. were to adopt or support in the ensuing years. It was the abandonment of the Cromer policy of trusteeship for the Eygptian masses, and the adoption in its place of democratic political theories. (p. 188) (BA)
12. When considering the transformation which Lord Cromer effected during his twenty-four years in Egypt, we are reminded of certain remarkable qualities which have frequently been shown by British administers and soldiers in Africa and Asia. Of these, the most striking peculiarity was the enthusiasm and devotion which such officers have often developed for the particular nation or community with which they have worked. Again and again, British officers can be found consecrating their lives in the welfare of their Sikhs, their Arabs, their Ghurkhas, their Africans or whatever race they have chanced to serve with. (p. 185) (BA)
13. I did not personally believe that any universally acceptable solution was possible. Every country was different. In general, wherever possible, development should be in the nature of the gradual modification of existing institutions. (p. 230) (BA)
14. It has been said, perhaps with justice, that it is not the vices, but the narrow-mindedness of men, which makes for so much sorrow and unhappiness in the world. (p. 260) (BA)
15. It is not treaties which make friendship but friendship which makes treaties. (p. 471) (BA)
16. To Americans, a peasant economy is perhaps strange, or at least unrewarding. They tend to be impatient of petty items and to long for vast projects, a single one of which may suffice to revolutionize the country. (p. 326-327) (SA)
17. Whereas the British were inclined to work through the Jordan government, the Americans were more in the habit of doing everything themselves. (p. 327) (SA)
But it is always risky to transfer the customs of one nation bodily to another, without regard to local conditions. (p. 347) (SA)
18. Our hopeful reformers, who aspired to teach the bedouins to settle down and grow tomatoes, were unaware of the beauties of the high desert or of the freedom of the nomadic life. (p. 97) (AA)
Dan Green works at the U.S. Department of State (DOS) in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. He served a year as a Political Advisor to the Tarin Kowt Provincial Reconstruction Team in Uruzgan Province, Afghanistan, for which he received the DOS's Superior Honor Award and the U.S. Army's Superior Civilian Service Award. He also received a letter of commendation from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Bush Administration, the DOS, the U.S. Navy, or the Department of Defense. Mr. Green recently returned from Iraq where he served as a tribal liaison officer (US Navy Reserve).
(1) The following sources were used for this biography: John Bagot Glubb, The Story of the Arab Legion (London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1948); John Bagot Glubb, A Soldier with the Arabs (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1957); John Bagot Glubb, Britain and the Arabs: A Study of Fifty Years 1908 to 1958 (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1959); John Bagot Glubb, Arabian Adventures: Ten Years of Joyful Service (London: Cassell, 1978); James Lunt, Glubb Pasha: A Biography (London: Harvill Press, 1984); wikipedia.org (accessed on September 22, 2007)
(2) David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1989), p. 503.
(3) John Bagot Glubb, Arabian Adventures: Ten Years of Joyful Service (London: Cassell, 1978), pp. 100-109.
(4) Ibid., pp. 47-51.
(5) Ibid., 176.
-----
Glubb's Guide to the Arab Tribes (Part 1)
Meet Glubb - Jules Crittenden's Forward Movement