Initially I dismissed Saddam’s recent call to the Kuwaitis to rise against their government as just another of his antics. The reaction of the Kuwaiti public to his address, however, has led me to write about it. If it were a news item aired by the American Sawa radio targeting the Iraqis, I would surely have thought there was a catch somewhere. In this case, on the other hand, there is no room to doubt as the Iraqi information minister himself made the announcement.
Through the message, Saddam aims to incite the Kuwaiti people both against their government and the American forces. It now seems that the message has boomeranged on his own interests. He has helped the Kuwaitis who still had some doubts about the need to change the Iraqi regime to become convinced of the need to do so.
The message also shows that Baghdad is incapable of understanding what is happening to it and around it, particularly at this critical and dangerous moment.
Several recent reports from Kuwait have created the impression that in the past 11 years many Kuwaitis have forgotten their suffering and humiliation at the hands of Saddam. They had also begun to reject the idea of a regime change in Baghdad. Saddam’s new message, however, has stimulated the short memory of these Kuwaitis and made them raise their voices in unison, demanding an immediate change of the Iraqi government.
If I were a subscriber to conspiracy theories, I would not have hesitated to believe the message was prepared in Washington and craftily attributed to Baghdad. On the contrary, as I am quite familiar with the Iraqi regime’s way of thinking, I do not accept that possibility. The Iraqi regime, in this case, is training its guns on itself.
One difficulty with the regime is that it thinks that people in the neighboring countries have the same ideas and opinions as its people — who are suppressed by their police and so need a strong man to help them rise against their government. Saddam does not realize that Kuwait is a country that is politically free. Unlike Saddam’s police, Kuwait’s police are usually busy with pursuing traffic violators rather than political opponents of the state. Kuwaitis do not need to rebel against their government because their Parliament attacks the government practically every day — unlike any another country in the Arab world. How stupid Saddam is to imagine that he will incite a people against their government when they are free to criticize it anywhere and anytime.
Saddam has certainly awakened the Kuwaitis, particularly those deceived by clandestine speeches issued from unknown caves or alien organizations. His speech has reminded them how dangerous he is. We have never been impressed by the intellectual caliber of Saddam’s public relations people. Though I know that they are not capable of inventing ways to narrow the divide between the country and its neighbors, I never thought they would do anything to deepen the chasm or open the wound further.
Would any one in his right senses demand that Kuwaitis rise against the American forces which defended them from Saddam’s invading army? How could they turn against the US when Saddam himself has allowed his palaces and factories to be inspected by American forces?
The US deserves congratulations because its enemies are such sitting ducks as Saddam and his ilk.
Arab News Opinion 15 December 2002
