Dr. Mohammad T. Al-Rasheed

To make coffee you need hot water. To make tea, you need boiling water. There is a difference of course that many do not recognize. Oddly enough, both kinds of coffee drunk in the Middle East (Arabian and Turkish) are both boiled. Generally speaking coffee is percolated, dissolved, or soaked through a filter. Tea, on the other hand, is simply infused in boiling water.

I thought about these subtle differences in preparing your choice of brew as I listened to the plethora of voices recommending dialogue between the government and the perpetrators of the indiscriminate bombings in Riyadh. Some even offered to mediate. Those “mediators” claim that they want to save the soul and cohesion of the country from a “fitna,” or religious crisis.

On the face of it, their effort might seem honorable. But there are other factors to take in and ponder. To begin with, the fitna has already occurred when innocents of any creed are blown to smithereens. Secondly, these people who perpetrate these acts are beyond talking of any sort. They have crossed the proverbial Rubicon. Thirdly, and most significantly, I detect an ulterior motive for these latter-day “moderates.” Basically, they do not want the hardliners to tarnish their image any further lest they lose all their power at all times. We should not forget that these “moderates” are the ones responsible for banning nutmeg in Saudi Arabia, for example. In other words, they offer us the choice between hot and boiling water.

The path from here on is clear: The government cannot allow itself or the general populace to be blackmailed. Dialogue and real reform should not hinge on the whims of those who will applaud one day and scurry for cover the next. The government should strive to be at peace with its population by addressing their worries and concerns. Officials selected according to how loud they applaud will lead nowhere. People’s credentials and stamina should be the only valid criteria in the selection process.

We have seen that the Governing Council in Iraq is a failure since the Americans picked its incompetent members only because they represent certain sectors of the population. Now Colin Powell is lamenting the fact that Iraq lacks a single person competent and charismatic enough to lead the country. We have a chance here to bring in those who will work toward reform and are not afraid to tell the truth.

Mediocrity is the hallmark of decay. When pushed by events and circumstances, the mediocre will invariably help the situation to get worse. The brain drain in the Arab world is reaching epic proportions. Our writers, scientists, intellectuals — even our belly dancers — are moving west. What is left is the quasi-everything and the lamentably demented. They are not a solid foundation for nation building.