KUWAIT CITY, 3 April 2003 — Kuwait’s Information Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Sabah has said that his country will not hide any information about the war on Iraq from its people.
“The presence of foreign journalists in Kuwait is evidence of the country’s open media policy,” he told Arab News.
“We don’t put any obstacles in front of journalists,” the minister said, adding that there are no media blackouts over anything happening in Kuwait.
“We have allowed journalists to visit Al-Sharq market, which was hit recently by an Iraqi missile,” he pointed out.
When this reporter informed the minister that he had to get through a number of hastily erected roadblocks in order to reach a mall hit by a missile, Al-Sabah replied: “False information which conceals facts from the people will not receive God’s blessing.”
Asked why the authorities failed to warn the public on an incoming Iraqi missile, Al-Sabah said: “We had evidence that the missiles were heading away from Kuwait, so we didn’t sound the sirens.”
Ahmad Al-Jarallah, editor in chief of Kuwait’s Assiyassah newspaper, told Arab News that Arab media organizations are generally giving news which the Arab public wants to hear, rather than the complex reality.
“This is not a war between equals, and Iraq will not prove to be stronger than the coalition forces. But we — both the print and electronic media — are trying to justify the wishes of our readers and viewers,” who want to believe there is more resistance, Al-Jarallah argued.
