A former head of Saudi intelligence, the royalty of oil-rich Gulf emirates and offshore banks in the Cayman Islands were part of the intricate network of deceit that enabled the Bank of Credit and Commerce International to secretly gain control of three American banks over the last several years.

His coins have been found extensively in Afghanistan and as far as the Gulf Emirates.

Attacks on Gulf Emirates Most of the Scuds fired by Iraq, including one fired on Monday at the island nation Bahrain, about 20 miles east of Dhahran, have been intercepted by American Patriot defense missiles.

In three future Gulf emirates, the first monarchic style was hakim:

There are the Gulf Emirates.

More accessible than Saudi Arabia, safer than Yemen and more traditional than the Gulf emirates, Oman nonetheless has plenty to rival these countries' attractions and more.

In the wider Middle East, he says, America hopes that the loyalty of American friends - Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf emirates and Turkey - can maintain 'a balance of power in our favour'.

Every night, families in squalid refugee camps or in gaudy stone mansions built with earnings from the Gulf emirates watch the bloodshed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Al Jazeera and other Arab satellite stations.

Even the Gulf emirates are nervous.