Desert Bloom

By ZVIKA KRIEGER

Awash in oil money, Persian Gulf emirates are striving to shift the intellectual heart of the Middle East

When Prime Minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon was killed in a car bombing in February 2005, Toufic Mezher hoped it would be an isolated incident. But the country was subsequently racked by almost weekly outbursts of riots, assassinations, and bombings. Mezher began to fear for his family's safety. The 16-year American University of Beirut engineering professor also saw his beloved