A guarded friendship
Thirteen years after Iraq's invasion of their country, Kuwaitis still have mixed feelings towards their Arab neighbour. Judit Neurink reports from Kuwait City
Most Kuwaitis are able to tell stories of family, friends or acquaintances with bitter memories of Iraq's invasion of their country in 1990. There are stories about people being killed, kidnapped, taken as POWs, physically abused, tortured and terrorised by the first Arab invasion of another Arab country. While the world remains divided over supporting or opposing the US-UK determination to invade Iraq, the Kuwaitis are perhaps the only nation with a very different view of the situation.
In Kuwait, one could easily develop the impression that the plight of the Iraqi people is overshadowed by memories of "Kuwaiti suffering". In many hotel rooms, alongside the typical tourist information, are thick glossy books full of maps, pictures and data on the invasion and missing POWs, put together by a special government committee. Only last month, a special centre opened in Kuwait City to keep alive the memory of missing POWs.
But there is indication that Kuwaitis' actual sentiments are more nuanced. Kuwaiti society is very cosmopolitan, with many of its citizens tracing their origins to several neighbouring countries -- including Iraq. Most Kuwaitis are well aware of their roots, and many maintain close ties with their kin across borders. Before 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's birthday was celebrated in Kuwait. But this is exactly why the invasion hit so hard, many Kuwaitis say, when a friend hurts you, it is particularly painful.
"Many people feel betrayed by the invasion and the way Iraqis treated us. Some Kuwaitis lost sons or daughters, and some still have family members in Iraqi prisons. It is still fresh in our collective memory," says Ghanim Alnajjar, a Kuwaiti political scientist and human rights activist. But ties between the peoples of the two countries remain strong, he says. "There are many Kuwaitis who do not have any problem with Iraqis. Many people send money and food to friends and relatives inside Iraq."
Alnajjar, who was detained by Iraq for his role in the Kuwaiti resistance, has many Iraqi friends in and outside the country. He says Kuwait still has more Iraqi residents than any other Gulf country -- some 25,000 people, according to the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry. Many of them are married to Kuwaitis and have lived in the tiny country for decades -- generations in some cases. Some Iraqis also fought alongside Kuwaitis during the invasion.
As there are no telephone lines between the two nations, most Iraqis living in Kuwait have to phone through third countries to speak to their relatives. The closure of the borders between the two countries makes visiting complicated, but not impossible. Iraqis wishing to visit relatives in Kuwait can easily obtain visas, but travelling to Kuwait requires going through a third country, with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates the transit points they most often use.
"Hundreds of Iraqis have become Kuwaiti citizens over the past years, which is not an easy thing," says Alnajjar. "And the number didn't go down after the invasion. Iraqis still obtain Kuwaiti nationality. So things on the ground are not as bad as they are perceived to be."
Privately, Kuwaitis will tell visitors they have nothing against the Iraqis. Some go as far as to refer to them as their "brothers", and say they would consider a union between the two countries, and that "it is only Saddam Hussein" they hate.
The war that the US military troops are preparing for, is for many Kuwaitis a war they do not really want, but have no say in.
MP Naser Al-Sane of the Islamic Constitutional Movement expresses views held by many Kuwaitis when he speaks out against the use of force, and in favour of giving the Iraqis a chance to get rid of Saddam themselves. "But alas, we Kuwaitis have no influence, we are not a member of the Security Council. We can only wait and see."
The Kuwait Friendship Association (KFA), an NGO, expressed similar sentiments regionally and internationally in a paid advertisement carried in a number of newspapers. In the statement, KFA said, "We stand by you and we do not intend to harm you."
According to the NGO's deputy treasurer, Ahmed Al-Sarraf, who is also a writer and businessman, the ad was very well received. "The number of faxes and e-mails we received was unimaginable." KFA took out the advertisements, "to correct the impression in the Arab world that the Kuwaitis are against the Iraqis, because of the grudge they felt during the occupation. But Iraq is next door, we cannot eliminate it. Coexistence is important. You cannot say we hate them for the rest of our lives. In order to stop people from capitalising on this hatred, we had to make a statement." For that reason, members of the society, all well-known Kuwaitis, including people from the ruling family, signed the advertisement. "Obviously, we heard some people were not happy about it, but in our own circles and amongst the Iraqi opposition and Iraqis in exile it was well received."
Al-Sarraf sees a growing willingness amongst Kuwaitis to support the Iraqis. "The government has tried through the media to differentiate between the Iraqi people and Saddam Hussein," he says.
But the media has also been a platform for some columnists who call for actions in the opposite direction, namely, rounding up all Iraqis and detaining them in camps. Some Kuwaitis admit in private that they feel unsafe with Iraqis living next door to them.
Baghdad's threats against Arab countries that aid the US in its war on terror have also contributed to feelings of insecurity. Kuwaitis' concerns only mounted when, following Iraq's intimidating remarks, Interior Minister Mohamed Khalid Sabah said that Iraqi agents in Kuwait are one of the country's top security threats. "We consider ourselves in a war, intelligence-wise, with Iraq already," he said.
Some Iraqi residents in Kuwait say they feel they are no longer welcome and are, consequently, trying to keep a low profile. Many are office workers, exiled professors and intellectuals. Their children attend Kuwaiti schools, but are not looked upon as Kuwaitis. Some feel they will always be viewed as unwelcome outsiders. "Kuwait is still too angry at the Iraqis, and the Iraqis want to arrest me," an Iraqi resident told an American journalist last week, concluding simply, but desperately, "I have nowhere to go."
