At least, that's the message of this op/ed in the Arab News:

What Bush and Blair failed to realize is that their actions has consolidated Saddam’s position both at home and abroad. Whatever political opposition Saddam had evaporated when the invasion commenced. Bush failed to understand Arab pride. It was not question of Saddam Hussein and his dictatorial regime, but the pride and honor of Arabs which was being defaced and defied by America and its partner. No Arab could ever tolerate foreign forces on their land.

No mention of the fact that "Arab forces" on our land was a significant part of what finally brought Allied forces into Iraq. Or that strong and unambivalent efforts on the part of the Arab nations to excise terrorism from their own countries and region would have ended this without an Allied shot being fired. I don't bear ill-will toward Arabs generally, just as I didn't toward Russians generally during the Cold War. But the posturing of Arab governments and their state-run media, putting Arab pride before American lives, actually brings precisely the opposite reaction than what they're probably looking for.

Pride in self doesn't - and shouldn't - trigger respect in others; respect is earned. And standing pride above principled action isn't the way to earn it. That's a lesson this op/ed writer clearly has yet to learn.