HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain

About Me

"In this regard and with my heart filled with sadness, I have to say it is my belief that there is no Iraqi people inside Iraq. There are only diverse groups with no national sentiments. They are filled with superstitious and false religious traditions with no common grounds between them. They easily accept rumours and are prone to chaos, prepared always to revolt against any government. It is our responsibility to form out of this mass one people that we would then guide, train and educate. Any person who is aware of the difficult circumstances of this country would appreciate the efforts that have to be exerted to achieve these objectives." Faisal I, King of Iraq, 1932My old High School in Constantinople:MY OLDE BAGDAD:My grandson, King Faisal II:SUNRISE OVER WADI RUM:

My Interests

Horses, camels, smoking in my tent, outside my tent and in my Palace; meditating in the desert, playing chess, private times with my Queen and our four children.

I'd like to meet:

That clone with the horrid nasal voice, Alec Guinness - to give him a piece of my mind for his pitiful impersonation that made me look 60 years old, as if I were Lawrence's granddad. The truth is, at the period represented I was only 34 while Lawrence was just 29, tss, tss...

Music:

Desert folk songs, heavenly music created by the wind blowing through craggy rocks, my horses neighing, improvised violent thunder symphonies

Movies:

"Lawrence of Arabia" with the bits played by Alec Guinness cut out; "Lawrence After Arabia" because Alec Guinness is nowhere in it; "The Bridge on the River Kwai" because that is where Alec Guinness belongs, thousands of miles away from Arabia..

Television:

Not been invented yet

Books:

Arabian poetry

Heroes:

Salah ad DinViews from my childhood home in the heights of Buyukdere - I WANT MY 33 ACRES BACK!!!I was born at Taif in 1883, not in Mecca in 1885:They mean Abd al-Ilah, son of my brother Ali who was King of the Hijaz (not my brother Abdallah who was King of Transjordan):

My Blog

Eat your words, Dr. Rice!

You said on 13 August, "This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, where Russia can threaten its neighbours, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it. Things have change...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:41:00 PST

Iraks oil

"Several of the architects of the Iraq war no longer even bother to deny that oil was a major motivator for the invasion. On US National Public Radio's To the Point, Fadhil Chalabi, one of the primary...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:48:00 PST

Territorial claims of the Government of the Hedjaz I presented to the Peace Conference

As representing my father, who, by request of Britain and France, led the Arab rebellion against the Turks, I have come to ask that the Arabic-speaking peoples of Asia, from the line Alexandretta-Diar...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:05:00 PST

Memo which I submitted to the Peace Conference, January 1st, 1919

The country from a line Alexandretta - Persia southward to the Indian Ocean is inhabited by "Arabs" - by which we mean people of closely related Semitic stocks, all speaking the one language, Arabic. ...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 04:46:00 PST

Kipling took me for a camel dealer

"After enduring a ten minutes' questionnaire from Rudyard Kipling as to the size, number, origin and significance of camel brands in the Hejaz, Emir Faisal asked me in Arabic over the poet's shoulder:...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:48:00 PST

On handling reluctant trousers-wearers

"Most troublesome were the volunteers from the Hijaz and Yemen. They were unaccustomed to obeying orders and wearing army uniforms. They called trousers 'shinqiti' and seemed to be allergic to putting...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:56:00 PST

Give Faisal my regards, when you see him

From a letter written on 9.10.28 at Miranshah, India (now Pakistan) by TE Shaw to Brig-Gen Sir Gilbert Clayton: "Dear Clayton ... Give Faisal my regards, when you see him. Tell him that I thought a ...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 10:08:00 PST

How I spend my time

I now spend a lot of my time chatting with President Saddam Hussain, as we exchange views and all of our dear memories of Irak. I had such a tough time trying to keep our country together, whereas he ...
Posted by HM King Faisal I ibn Hussain on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 03:36:00 PST