While all Western countries, led by the United States and Britain, participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, no country Arab world but Kuwait took the courageous decision to participate in the war. However, to this day, we have received no word of thanks from anyone in Iraq for what we did for them.
Prime Minister of the Interim Iraqi Government, Eyad Allawi, mentioned all countries for their efforts - including Syria - and purposely failed to mention Kuwait. When he was an MP, the new Prime Minister, Nori Al-Maliki, attacked Kuwait in Iraq's Parliament over the border pipeline issue. During his acceptance speech for the post of Prime Minister, Al-Maliki never thanked Kuwait once. Can this be a coincidence?
Hassan Al-Allawi, a former member of the Baath party and author of the book "Mud Fences," was always well received when he visited Kuwait. When asked during a recent interview about the current situation in Iraq and its relations with Kuwait on the Al-Mustaqillah TV channel in London, Al-Allawi said that he was collecting the signatures of Iraqi MPs and well-known Iraqis to abrogate all agreements signed by Iraq with Kuwait. We hope this will never happen. Do the people of Iraq want Kuwaitis to think badly of them? Or are they trying to blackmail the Kuwaiti government by demanding financial assistance?
This is strange, considering that one might assume that world approbation might practically guarantee U.S. financial assistance to a much greater degree for years to come. Then again....
At any rate, perhaps al-Baghli might want to consider the Iraqis' current level of gratitude toward the British:
Many Iraqis say they fear that Basra, just miles from Iran and believed to be heavily under its sway, could become a battleground between London and Tehran in their dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions. U.S., British and Iraqi officials have accused Iranians of interfering in Iraq by supplying weapons and training to Shiite militias, including radical cleric Muqtada Sadr's Al Mahdi army.
Saturday's troubles began with a thundering explosion as the helicopter crashed into a two-story home. As smoke, fire and soot rose from the crash site, British soldiers cordoned off the upscale Saee district, an area of large single-family homes near the governor's office and several compounds housing British personnel.
Residents gathering near the scene cheered the crash and chanted, "Long live the Mahdi army." Sadr's militia has had numerous run-ins with British authorities in the south.
"Those who brought down this helicopter are heroes," said a man who identified himself as Abu Khadija.
TV stations showed smoke-filled scenes of angry young men tossing gasoline-filled bottles at jumpy British troops, who responded with gunfire. The young men tossed bricks and homemade bombs at the British soldiers' armored vehicles, eventually setting two ablaze, police and witnesses said.
British soldiers in riot gear could be seen struggling to put out flames with fire extinguishers as Iraqis carried away their wounded. Witnesses described helicopters hovering and fighter jets screeching above.
This doesn't seem to be quite yet the time to be overly concerned with the diplomatic trappings and niceties that some are maybe a bit too used to, but given its rather unfortunate sandwiching between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, perhaps Kuwait is hoping for some sort of bulwark against the larger, more oppressive states in the area. Whatever the case, I wouldn't go holding my breath for those flowers and candy we were all promised.
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