Voice from the Commonwealth
Commentary, World Views and Occasional Rants from a small 'l' libertarian in Massachussetts

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace. We seek not your council nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams
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Friday, November 08, 2002

So howdo the Kuwaitis really feel about Saddam?

``If the United States were not here, maybe you wouldn't see me sitting at this coffee shop today, owning a mobile phone and being able to relax with my family,'' said Reda Shashtari, 56, a Kuwait Airways employee sipping a cappuccino at a Kuwait City mall. ``Instead I would be at home waiting for the Iraqis to come knocking on my door,'' he said. ``The Americans are our supporters. They defeated the Iraqis. How can we complain about them?''

``Other Arab countries, like Egypt and Syria, see one thing — the American dualism where Washington deals with Israel in one way and Iraq in another,'' said Abdullah Sahar Mohammad, a Kuwaiti University international relations professor. ``Because of the invasion and occupation, Kuwaitis see things differently,'' Abdullah says. ``We say Saddam should be deterred from continuing his aggression and that he should follow U.N. resolutions. ``We, too, hate the U.S. policy concerning the Israeli-Palestinian issue, but our existence would be threatened (by Iraq) if the American support in Kuwait was withdrawn,'' he said.

``The Iraqi soldiers butchered our children in front of our eyes, took people out of their houses and stole whatever they wanted,'' says Ali al-Monier, 54, a farmer. ``If America is not here to protect us and the region, I believe Saddam will come back to Kuwait and do more than he did before.''

``I am mad that other countries don't understand how evil Saddam is and the danger he poses,'' says Youssef al-Ameeri, who is in charge of a museum dedicated to the Iraqi occupation and Kuwait's subsequent liberation.

``This is because he has never fired missiles at them or occupied their countries,'' he said. ``Saddam's propaganda machine also has people saying many good things about Iraq, so people don't think he is a threat.'' This week, after Saudi Arabia suggested it would not allow foreign forces to use its military bases to launch a war on Iraq, Kuwait reiterated its stand that U.S. forces could use Kuwaiti bases to attack Iraq as long as the United Nations sanctioned it. The sooner the better, feels al-Ameeri, who said he was held and tortured by the Iraqis for five days during their occupation. ``Kuwaitis are still afraid of Iraq and they believe the Americans should be here, and that they should go into Baghdad and get rid of Saddam,'' he said.

< email | 11/08/2002 02:21:00 PM | link




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