PANORAMA

THE CLASH

Rock The Casbah  

Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a-cruisin' down the ville
The muezzin was a' standing
On the radiator grille

CHORUS:
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don't like it
Rockin' the Casbah
Rock the Casbah

By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouin they brought out
The electric camel drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the shareef
Had cleared the square
They began to wail

CHORUS

Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack 'em in
The in crowd say it's cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a whiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive

CHORUS

The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way

As soon as the shareef was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare

As soon as the shareef was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed

CHORUS

He thinks it's not kosher
Fundamentally he can't take it
You know he really hates it
 

 

I wanna hold your hand...

 

I bet I’m not alone on this, but did any of my fellow New Yorkers find the pictures of our President taking Crown Prince Abdullah by the hand, and gently guiding him into his Crawford ranch for a chit-chat slightly revolting and possibly even nauseating?

 

Perhaps the same PR genius who came up with mission accomplished sign thought our Commander in Chief should appear clever in a “hands on” kind of way. The sight of our President fawning all over the Saudis to get them to increase their short term oil production only to be rebuffed was embarrassing enough, but to be publicly lectured to by the audacious Saudi spokesman Adel Al-Jubeir on the art of refining oil makes one's blood boil. Business as usual for the good old boys in Texas, perhaps, but for someone who can still vividly remember looking down Sixth Avenue at the smoke rising on that clear September morning, it’s way too much to hold down.

 

The Saudi Royal family has spent large chunks of its oil revenue on spreading Wahhabism, a puritanical and militant Islamic sect throughout the Muslim world. Thanks to Saudi funding there are now thousands of these schools preaching Jihad against the West; this is where the Taliban got their knack for sadistic amputations, public stoning, treating women like 4^th class citizens and blowing up Buddhist monuments.

 

The Saudi government has also consistently paid hush money to Wahhabi teachers to spew hatred of America, and in turn divert popular anger away from government corruption. This sordid little protection racquet fermented an atmosphere so toxic that it produced 15 of the 19 suicide-murderers responsible for 9/11.

 

Can George W. Bush please stop gushing over these people?

 

With dwindling approval ratings and an irritated population concerned about rising oil prices, the president has finally decided that politely queuing up at the giant Middle-East gas station also known as Saudi Arabia does not make an energy policy. This week he unveiled his five part energy plan that would reduce America’s reliance on fossil fuels. It was surreal to see our oil baron president discussing the finer points of green cars, but who am I to question anyone’s roadside conversion. No. 43 has not made a habit of asking his voting citizens for sacrifice, as his war on terrorism and simultaneous tax cuts prove, and will probably not spend a lot of time trying to reign in Americans appetite for consuming power.

The inconvenient facts remain, the Saudis have a monopoly on the world’s oil market and America is their number one customer.

 

We have to begin a sustained effort to reduce our demand of foreign oil and to start creating fuel efficient cars. Technology that makes us less dependent, and allows us to loosen our ties with Saudi Royal family is indeed a necessity and should be a point of principle, especially since oil is no longer their only flammable export.

 

Hold your hand? Hmmm, No thanks; when it comes to the house of Saud, I say Let’s Rock the Casbah!

Alex Lekutanoy