The Turbulent Gulf and the GCC

The former Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Kuwaiti representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah Bishara, told a public audience at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) on Sunday, October 25, 2009, that the GCC could achieve "glory" through policies of moderation aimed at defeating religious fundamentalism and mitigating Iranian influence in the Gulf. Bishara's lecture, entitled "The Turbulent Gulf and the GCC," was sponsored by AUK's Gulf Studies Center and attended by members of the general public and the diplomatic corps, in addition to AUK faculty, staff, and students.

Focusing his twenty-five minute address on the twin historical challenges of Iraq and Iran, Bishara sought to assess the GCC's overall legacy in achieving its goals; Bishara claimed that "in the final outcome...we have pan-Arabism, radicalism, fundamentalism on the run," and hailed a "triumph of moderation" in the region. The GCC's first Secretary-General, from its inception in 1981 until 1993, Bishara described the GCC as a "status quo power," and spoke of the GCC's continuing mission to "build a wall against disorder flowing from Tehran and Baghdad." Weighing the Council's "profits and losses," Bishara said that the Arab Gulf states have ably "preserved the order of the Gulf," and made wise use of their wealth, creating an island of political and economic stability in the Middle East. Bishara cited this stability, based on the dependability, trustworthiness, and confidence of the region's governments and economies, as an essential precondition for the GCC's engineering of "the internationalization of the Gulf."

After critiquing the GCC's slow pace in fostering good governance and democratization, describing its deliberative process as "too cautious, too reluctant," Bishara nevertheless marveled at the GCC's rapid response in 1990 and 1991 to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. "During the Kuwait occupation, I saw a different catalog of traits" from the Gulf leaders, Bishara said. In that crisis, Bishara saw "an amazing coalition of determination, wealth, credibility, reliability, and friendship."

During a question-and-answer session following the lecture, Bishara warned of the grave risk posed by a nuclear Iran to the GCC's mission, noting that such a development "would tip the balance of power" and "impact the regional order so dear to the GCC," and advocated region-wide "Programs of Enlightenment" in religious re-education to combat "the curse of fanaticism."
  

The former Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Kuwaiti representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah Bishara with the Director of the Gulf Studies Center & Associate Professor of History and International Studies, Dr. Hesham Al-Awadi
 

The former Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Kuwaiti representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdullah Bishara