October• 2018 | 11READER’S DIGESTprogress – against a backdrop of
political upheavals in the region and
the lingering repercussions spawned
by the Suez Crisis of 1956.
“Canyoubereadyin15minutes?”
Alyanaskedme.“We’regoingon
a trip.” With less than 30 minutes
left to put the paper to bed, I quickly
explained it was a bit tricky for me to
leave now.
“Let Josh handle it,” he replied,
referring to our subeditor.
“Bring a coat – it might be cold,”
Alyan added. “And don’t tell anyone,
not even Josh. he whole thing is
deniable.”
All he would tell me was that we
were crossing the border. I didn’t have
a visa for either Saudi Arabia or Iraq,
but this didn’t bother Alyan. “You
worry too much,” he replied. “It’s a
border crossing. We’re travelling in
the minister’s convoy.”
Sheikh Jaber, a senior government
minister, was a man with a cryptic
smile and rugged features. An
uncompromising conservative, he had
once threatened to deport me for an
article I had written for theCanberra
Timesdescribing an incident in which
another government minister had
slapped a high-school girl. “here is
no censorship here, but next time you
write something like that, I’ll put you
on the irst plane home,” he’d warned.
We patched up our relationship when
he gave me a scoop about oil tankers.