Nasser

"Since the death of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1970, there has been no ideology to capture the imagination of the Arab world except Islamic fundamentalism. What we see today in the Middle East is a direct result of Western opposition to Nasser's Arab nationalist ideals and his belief in the supremacy of the secular state." "Nasser is a towering figure in Arab politics. When he refused to follow a strictly America line, the CIA tried to undermine him. He responded by throwing in his lot in with the Soviet Union, even though he was fervently anti-Communist. Nasser wanted to…