Lawrence of Arabia 'made up' sex attack by Turk troops

UK Telegraph ^ | 5/15/06 | Elizabeth Day

[Seydlitz]

Hey, sick, but could you have broken up the Ottoman Empire yourself?

The Arab revolt was a joke, which did nothing but tie down a few Torkish battalions in an otherwise inactive theater of war. Rafael de Nogales, a mercenary officer who commanded a Turkish cavalry division in Palestine encountered Lawrence's men on a number of occasions. In his memoirs "Four Years Beneath the Crescent", he expresses little but contempt for the Arab raiders. So long as any Turkish unit maintained a semblance of order, the Arabs would run away. They were bandits, nothing more. This is evident even in "Seven Pillars of Wisdom", as most of the serious battles are not fought by Arabs, but by Muslim troops of the British Army brought to Aqaba from India.

[ozzymandus]

In the movie, Lawrence seemed to enjoy it more than Jose Ferrer.

[squarebarb]

Excellent deduction.

And your tagline means, "who loves me, loves me and canes me".

Just kidding.

[Williams]

The book is fabulous, the film is also tremendous, although largely fictionalized. Interesting, because teh real story is at least as facinating. But all that stuff in the film about crossing the desert and encountering the great Anthony Quin character (Auda?)is made up. In reality, Auda rode into Faisal's camp and offered his services.

But Auda was an incredible character in real life as in film. To me the most unforgettable parts of the book are descriptions of the feasts and of the taste of water wells, ranging from delicious to drinking water into which the Turks had thrown dead camels to decay.

[Joe 6-pack]

Some of us cane. Some of us cane't...;-)

[Alouette]

If it was consensual, then it wasn't really rape.

[Williams]

BTW the most controversial aspect of his life story was probably the massacre of a ragtag Turkish army ("No Prisoners!"). And this alleged rape is NOT depicted in the film. It is more a scene of implied masochism. Ferrer beats lawrence and maybe punches his groin. When he sees the look of pleasure on Lawrence's face he becomes angry and beats him more. Further, the issue of homosexuality is only referred to indirectly in the film.

So much of what is written today is inaccurate.

[Zhang Fei]

Of course we wouldn't have the continuous unrest that we have there now, and Iraq (a contrived nation) wouldn't exist either. I'm not sure how you can say Israel wouldn't have existed. The Ottoman Empire, as with all empires, would have eventually fallen from within.

Iraq is not as contrived as people like to say. It's contrived from the standpoint of people who think in terms of nice neat national borders encompassing distinct religions and ethnicities. In terms of the reality of power and the people who make these decisions, weapon in hand (as opposed to academics, chalk in hand) - throughout Arab history, Middle Eastern geography has been a game of winner takes all. If the Brits and the French had not jumped in, the Middle East might have become a single Arab empire (to replace what was a Turkish empire on Arab soil) rather than the mish mash of nations it has now become. Which one of the Arab leaders would you like to have in charge of the entire Arab portion of the Middle East's oil reserves? The Saudi king? Muammar Gaddafi? Bashir al Assad? Saddam Hussein?

If the British had not taken chunks of the Middle East from the Ottoman empire, Israel would not exist, at least not in its present location. Israelis like to rail against the Brits for not being impartial with respect to Jews and Arabs in Palestine, but the reality is that British rule in a fragmented Middle East provided a shield behind which Jews accumulated and grew strong. A single Arab empire would have smothered the baby in its crib. And there is simply no chance that Jewish refugees would have flooded into what is now Israel if it had become a war zone involving dozens of Arab claimants to the title of ruler of the Arab nation after WWI.

[ruschpa]

Ah, yes... "A" stands for Azrak.
The evidence sounds really flimsy to me. You should need a little more than that to go on to discredit Lawrence.

[billbears]

the Middle East might have become a single Arab empire (to replace what was a Turkish empire on Arab soil) rather than the mish mash of nations it has now become. Which one of the Arab leaders would you like to have in charge of the entire Arab portion of the Middle East's oil reserves? The Saudi king? Muammar Gaddafi? Bashir al Assad? Saddam Hussein?

As none have represented a threat to the borders of this nation of states, frankly I wouldn't care. Another side effect may also have been a concerted search and drilling effort in other parts of the world.

[The Cuban]

True, Arabs are cowards.

[escapefromboston]

I don't know, Beethoven has some pretty good music.

[Grut]

In the movie, Lawrence seemed to enjoy it more than Jose Ferrer.

On the other hand, Ferrer retired the trophy for looking dissipated and evil in that one. In comparison, Emperor Palpatine just looked like he had a really rotten cold.

[dighton]

ami-autographs.com

[Feiny]

I have been reading "Backing Into The Limelight".....it is an amazing biography and it would not surprise me in the least if T.E. made up the rape. He was known to fabricate things for his own amusement.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Barr argues that he fabricated the event in order to discredit Arab militants in the precarious post-war climate.

Hmmm... except Lawrence was on the side of the Arabs, claiming to have been the victim of buggery by Turks.

I'm with Clint on this... the Film Actors Guild is on the march. Well, the prance.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[durasell]

Hey, sick, but could you have broken up the Ottoman Empire yourself?

http://www.simplyottomans.com/


That said, they've been trying to discredit him for years...

[Zhang Fei]

As none have represented a threat to the borders of this nation of states, frankly I wouldn't care. Another side effect may also have been a concerted search and drilling effort in other parts of the world.

We went to war with Iraq to prevent it from completing a grab of Kuwait's oil reserves. Kuwait is just one of the many oil-producing Arab states. A single Arab nation would have hundreds of millions of people. Think China, but with half of the world's oil.

The reason the world buys oil from the Middle East is not because it likes the Arabs, or because Arab oil is the cheapest oil available - there is a single world price for oil - it's because Arab oil is one of the few sources of oil available. Just because you look for oil doesn't mean it's there. Most of the easy finds are exhausted. Oil in Arabia did not require much exploration - it had been bubbling to the surface for thousands of years - remember Aladdin and his magic (oil) lamp? That's what they used to use it for until the advent of modern refining techniques.

[Nova]

"Ah, yes... "A" stands for Azrak."

And it clearly means, "I'm still in Azrak"

Definitely NOT, "Thank Allah, I'm not still in that dump, Azrak"

[durasell]

Read Seven Pillars. It's a masterpiece. Also, The Mint, one of the strangest military books ever written.