Monday, August 22, 2016

King of Jordan's book: "Our Last Best Chance: A Story of War and Peace"

How come people have not read or mocked this book by the buffoonish king of Jordan? Here are some gems from the book:
On handling Arab-Israeli war: “One afternoon my brother Faisal and I were hiding in the basement with assorted aunts, cousins, and other relatives”. (p. 18) 
On Karmah battle of 1968:  “Although the Fedayeen took part in the fighting, the victory was achieved by the army”. p. 22
According to this guy, Nasser placed hydrochloric acide in King Husain's nose drops to kill him--kid you not.  p. 23 (he then tells the hilarious highly unlikely story of the dead cats, according to which the King's chef wanted to poison the king so he experimented first on cats in the palace).  
"Arabic is my first language…And yet before too long I had mastered English and I picked up a British accent that has stayed with me”.  (p. 26)

On his high school heroism:  "So we locked arms and pounded each other on the back..  I jumped onto a bed and leaped at my antagonists, knocking him over. He fell and hit his head hard on the floor...but because I had taken down a much bigger boy, the others began to show me a little more respect”. p. 32)