pictures. From then on, any time there was an official function—luncheons, visiting warships, falcon demonstrations, ribbon cuttings—Sheikh Rashid would send for the Pakistani photographer. 2
Sheikh Rashid had a crooked hawk’s nose and beady eyes that danced when he smiled. His shaggy beard and the creases around his eyes lent his smile a grandfatherly allure, even when he was a young man. He was self-educated and had had little schooling. He spoke only Arabic. Rashid was skeptical of certain bits of modernity, but he was openly disdainful of the stagnant past.
The new ruler kept himself in good shape, maintaining the bandy physique of a horseman his entire life. He’d already proven his toughness in the 1939 attack that rescued his father’s administration. But the ruthlessness of his younger years had mellowed. Rashid now exuded the simple confidence of the Bedouin, or
Bedu
.
Rashid disdained certain comforts. He rode his horse even after he owned a car. He preferred to sit cross-legged on the floor in the Bedouin style. When offered a seat on a couch, he’d draw his legs up underneath him. He smoked a tiny pipe, a
midwakh
, common in the Gulf, and held it absentmindedly as he spoke, filling it with green tobacco from a small aspirin jar. 3 Rashid’s charm was infectious and disarming. His
majlis
was as much a forum for teasing and gags as for serious business. His jokes were often self-deprecating. He’d ask people to explain things in detail, saying with a smile, “I am a
Bedu
and do not understand complicated modern ways.” 4
Behind the modesty was a skilled politician who managed to stay on good terms with just about everybody, including the Saudis and Iranians, despite territorial disputes. He’d allied himself with the ruling al-Nahyan family of Abu Dhabi when he married Sheikha Latifa, a cousin of ruling sheikhs Shakhbut and Zayed. Rashid earned enormous respect in Britain and, in his later years, in Washington. He even managed to out-maneuver Saddam Hussein in the 1980s while remaining on cordial terms. During the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam demanded that Dubai halt trade with Iran, which, he complained, was giving his enemies an economic lifeline. Sheikh Rashid’s sympathetic noises managed to mollify Saddam while keeping up the profitable trade with Iran. 5 The Bush administration put the same diplomatic pressure on Dubai after 2006, haranguing Sheikh Mohammed to heed the U.S. trade embargo on Iran. Like Saddam, Bush got friendly responses and little action.
Sheikh Rashid maintained a punishing work ethic in a region known for languor. He rose while it was dark and toured the city before dawn prayers. Afterward he held daily
majlis
meetings with movers and shakers. He brought Dubaians under his spell, demonstrating a knack for sizing people up, and then investing trust in men who found themselves working to impress him, if only to extend the magical sensation of Sheikh Rashid’s attention.
“Those of us foreigners that came here, we all got the same infection from Sheikh Rashid. Dubai had to become a place on the map,” GeorgeChapman says, reeling off a list of names of Englishmen who pitched in. Bill Duff handled finances. Eric Tulloch became the state engineer and developed Dubai’s municipal drinking water. The surveyors of Sir William Halcrow designed major projects and mapped out the city’s growth. And Chapman handled shipping.
London, Meet the Maktoums
Sheikh Rashid’s first trip outside the Gulf was a grand tour. He brought two sons, Maktoum, seventeen, and Hamdan, fourteen, along with customs chief Mahdi Tajer and banker Easa Al-Gurg. The arrangements called for the British government and the Iraq Petroleum Co. to split the costs of putting up the entourage at the Savoy Hotel for two weeks.
The royal party made the trip in hops, stopping at Bahrain, Amman, Jerusalem, Damascus, and Beirut, then flying across to Rome. There, the entourage rented cars and drove across the heart of
Sheikh Rashid had a crooked hawk’s nose and beady eyes that danced when he smiled. His shaggy beard and the creases around his eyes lent his smile a grandfatherly allure, even when he was a young man. He was self-educated and had had little schooling. He spoke only Arabic. Rashid was skeptical of certain bits of modernity, but he was openly disdainful of the stagnant past.
The new ruler kept himself in good shape, maintaining the bandy physique of a horseman his entire life. He’d already proven his toughness in the 1939 attack that rescued his father’s administration. But the ruthlessness of his younger years had mellowed. Rashid now exuded the simple confidence of the Bedouin, or
Bedu
.
Rashid disdained certain comforts. He rode his horse even after he owned a car. He preferred to sit cross-legged on the floor in the Bedouin style. When offered a seat on a couch, he’d draw his legs up underneath him. He smoked a tiny pipe, a
midwakh
, common in the Gulf, and held it absentmindedly as he spoke, filling it with green tobacco from a small aspirin jar. 3 Rashid’s charm was infectious and disarming. His
majlis
was as much a forum for teasing and gags as for serious business. His jokes were often self-deprecating. He’d ask people to explain things in detail, saying with a smile, “I am a
Bedu
and do not understand complicated modern ways.” 4
Behind the modesty was a skilled politician who managed to stay on good terms with just about everybody, including the Saudis and Iranians, despite territorial disputes. He’d allied himself with the ruling al-Nahyan family of Abu Dhabi when he married Sheikha Latifa, a cousin of ruling sheikhs Shakhbut and Zayed. Rashid earned enormous respect in Britain and, in his later years, in Washington. He even managed to out-maneuver Saddam Hussein in the 1980s while remaining on cordial terms. During the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam demanded that Dubai halt trade with Iran, which, he complained, was giving his enemies an economic lifeline. Sheikh Rashid’s sympathetic noises managed to mollify Saddam while keeping up the profitable trade with Iran. 5 The Bush administration put the same diplomatic pressure on Dubai after 2006, haranguing Sheikh Mohammed to heed the U.S. trade embargo on Iran. Like Saddam, Bush got friendly responses and little action.
Sheikh Rashid maintained a punishing work ethic in a region known for languor. He rose while it was dark and toured the city before dawn prayers. Afterward he held daily
majlis
meetings with movers and shakers. He brought Dubaians under his spell, demonstrating a knack for sizing people up, and then investing trust in men who found themselves working to impress him, if only to extend the magical sensation of Sheikh Rashid’s attention.
“Those of us foreigners that came here, we all got the same infection from Sheikh Rashid. Dubai had to become a place on the map,” GeorgeChapman says, reeling off a list of names of Englishmen who pitched in. Bill Duff handled finances. Eric Tulloch became the state engineer and developed Dubai’s municipal drinking water. The surveyors of Sir William Halcrow designed major projects and mapped out the city’s growth. And Chapman handled shipping.
London, Meet the Maktoums
Sheikh Rashid’s first trip outside the Gulf was a grand tour. He brought two sons, Maktoum, seventeen, and Hamdan, fourteen, along with customs chief Mahdi Tajer and banker Easa Al-Gurg. The arrangements called for the British government and the Iraq Petroleum Co. to split the costs of putting up the entourage at the Savoy Hotel for two weeks.
The royal party made the trip in hops, stopping at Bahrain, Amman, Jerusalem, Damascus, and Beirut, then flying across to Rome. There, the entourage rented cars and drove across the heart of
Similar Books
