Kuwait Caught Between Arab Loyalty, Gratitude To U.S.

With a hard look at a newspaper headline about America’s military buildup in the Gulf, one Kuwaiti volunteers his take on the three-week crisis: Saddam Hussein is playing America’s game.

As long as he makes trouble, the United States can keep the combustible region tense, Suleiman Ahmed says. That ensures a market for its costly arms and a pretext for its military presence.

The view offered by Ahmed at a newsstand Wednesday points to a change of heart in a country as familiar as any with Saddam’s penchant for brinkmanship.

From the foreign minister to Kuwaitis in the capital’s well-groomed streets, there is opposition to the use of American force against a defiant Iraq.

And, as with other Arabs, Kuwaitis increasingly complain that Washington is too determined to deal with Iraq and too reluctant to pressure Israel into making compromises for peace.

That leaves many in this oil-rich emirate with a dilemma: How do you stand with fellow Arab countries and, at the same time, stay an appreciative friend to an unpopular America, which forced Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in 1991?

“May God help decision-makers in Kuwait,” said Ahmed al-Baghdadi, a professor at Kuwait University, pointing out the contradictions. “We have an anti-Israel movement, and we don’t want to cross America. We want the Iraqi regime toppled, and we don’t want Iraqis to suffer.”

Since Saddam challenged the United Nations by expelling American weapons inspectors, the United States has found the coalition it once led in the Gulf War splintered.

Only Britain has given Washington its full support. France and Russia have a stake in seeing sanctions lifted: their oil deals with Iraq. And nearly all Arab countries shudder at the idea of the United States launching another attack on Iraq, an overreaction they believe would prove futile.

But nothing better demonstrates the unpopularity of Washington’s moves toward military action than the public opposition of Kuwait.

Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990 and during a seven-month occupation systematically looted the country. An estimated 300 Kuwaitis died.

Given that history, there was surprise last weekend when Foreign Minister Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah declared that Kuwait opposes any military action against Iraq.

The Kuwaiti Cabinet also urged a diplomatic solution, but quickly added that its views were “identical” to those of Washington.

The message, however, was clear. Whatever Kuwaitis owe the United States for ending Iraq’s occupation, more and more are willing to speak out against Washington’s policies, while drawing a clear line between Saddam and the Iraqi people.