>>Kuwait breaks ranks on Saddam
By Jack Fairweather in Kuwait
(Filed: 02/09/2002)
Kuwait became the first Arab state yesterday to signal support
for a US-led military coalition against Iraq, in marked contrast
to the caution shown by other countries in the region.
The Kuwaiti foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Salem
al-Sabah, told The Telegraph: "While Saddam Hussein
continues to keep Kuwaiti prisoners of war, and continues to
televise threats against Kuwait, we consider the war against
Iraq to have never ended."
The sheikh's comments serve as encouragement for a
Washington administration struggling to convince the
international community of the need for military action.
Saudi Arabia, which America used as a base during the 1991
Gulf War to drive Iraqi invaders from Kuwait, has so far
refused to open its territory to American forces for a new war
against Baghdad.
A Kuwaiti government official said: "If America asks for
support Kuwait will give it. I expect the same response from all
Gulf states. There may be the need publicly to be anti-war, but
under-the-table deals are being struck."
Twelve years after the Iraqis invaded, Kuwait again looks like
a prosperous Gulf emirate, but the trauma caused by the
seven-month occupation remains, and with it the growing
sense that the only way to achieve regional stability is
through military action to remove the Saddam regime.
A spokesman for the deputy prime minister's office said: "The
Kuwaiti people are tired of living under the constant threat of
aggression from Iraq.
"Those people who say that sending weapons inspectors into
Iraq may be a solution to the current crisis are not those who
are living within reach of his missiles and his chemical
weapons. How can we feel safe with Saddam Hussein next
door?"
Dr Masaad Shlash, of the department of sociology at Kuwait
University, a prisoner in Iraq after the invasion, said: "Look at
Saddam's treatment of his own people. He's the closest thing
the Middle East has to Hitler."<<
telegraph.co.uk |
