As Blair and Bush share Iraqi policy, check up on British Foreign policy history just for fun.
Provisional Govt of Iraq 1920, Iraqi King Faisal, Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., Balfour decision of Palestine, 1961 Kuwaiti independence from Britian.
The western european mindset has been fooling around with the arabic mindset for a long time, and the two don't necessarily mesh well.
The reason Columbus sailed west to get to the orient 500 years ago was to find a way to get spices without dealing with Arabs.