Ayoon Wa Azan (Half of Them Are Street Urchins)

I have decided to throw the gauntlet and challenge the Kuwaiti opposition, having written about the political situation in Kuwait time after time in recent months. But the opposition opted to ignore the idea of each article and chose delusions, injustice and obscurity instead. So today, I accuse the opposition of not having a convincing response, and I challenge it to react to the factual information I am citing here, while leaving opinions to the hypocrites and street urchins in the opposition. They give a bad name to honest dissenters that only want what is good for their country. With the latter category, I only differ in opinion, without the need for mutual distrust between us. What I said before and say again today is that Saddam Hussein is gone, and will not return. Kuwait’s borders are not under any threat, and there is a wide margin of freedom (which the opposition is seeking to undermine from within), in addition to high oil revenues that are more than enough to meet the country’s needs. Hence, Kuwait has one of the best conditions among all Arab nations, and is many times better than the next Arab country. I challenge them to deny this clear information, instead of ignoring it in favor of deception and foolishness, or taking citizens for fools. I then add another challenge: Kuwait was occupied for eight months (8/1990 - 3/1991), and liberated by the government, not the people, and certainly not by the opposition, whose leaders escaped to the desert, or closed their homes’ doors on themselves out of fear. The Kuwaiti opposition did not organize million-strong demonstrations at al-Jahraa Square to expel Saddam Hussein, like the Egyptians did in Tahrir Square to topple Hosni Mubarak; or establish a “Free Army” or armed resistance against the occupation, like the Syrians did to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad. We went behind Prince Khaled bin Sultan, Commander of Joint Forces and Theater of Operations, to Khafji, and the Safwan Tent. Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf has passed away, and we cannot forget his role in the liberation of Kuwait. By contrast, the opposition did not do anything at all for the liberation of Kuwait, which was instead liberated by a prudent government that enjoyed the best relations with the countries of the world. Here I particularly recall the roles of Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad, the Crown Prince Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah, and the Foreign Minister at the time, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, and I do not forget Kuwait’s Ambassador to Washington Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah, who persuaded Congress to support President George Bush’s decision to intervene to rescue Kuwait along with all the neighboring Arab states, including Hafez al-Assad’s “defiant” Syria, and Hosni Mubarak’s “conciliatory” Egypt. Indeed, this consensus was the result of the Kuwaiti government’s excellent relations with the countries of the world. I am going out of my way to remain objective, and say that the Kuwaitis all rallied around the ruling family during those disastrous months. To be sure, Saddam Hussein could not find one collaborator that he could use to justify the occupation. I am here talking about all Kuwaitis, not the loyalists or the opposition, although I can mention some dissenters who treated their country like they were tourists, and fled as soon as the crisis began, and did nothing except to wait for the liberation of the country to return and claim for themselves roles and heroic deeds that only exist in their sick imaginations. Now, these dissenters have chosen to take to the streets, because half of them are street urchins. This is while I appreciate many in the opposition whom I believe are some of the finest people there are, and my disagreement with them is only a difference in opinion. Indeed, I do not confuse patriotic dissenters with the demagogic street urchins who have been demonstrating for three months without any gains, as though they have grown fond of the taste of failure. I have a “cultivated” example about their attitudes, with the reader Hassan Hussein from Zurich. He wrote to me, “You contacted Sheikh, and spoke to Emir, it is shameful how you always brag about your connections.” Well, to this I say: The shame is on those who ill-understand. I was quoting the views of an Emir, a former prime minister and a former speaker in the elections, because it is they who are the news-makers, not I. It is not my fault that this reader is a nobody in his country, and in Switzerland. Thus, I say that Kuwait is the best among Arab countries, politically, socially and economically. Those who liberated Kuwait were its rulers, meaning all those who were in power and not the royal family alone. Furthermore, improving the already good situation, such as by increasing the margin for democracy and reducing any existing corruption, is part of democratic life, and is desirable and needed, and even imperative. But I insist that improving the good conditions has to be done by those who contributed to building the country, not those who are attempting to destroy a building atop its inhabitants. Today, I provided information, and I challenge the opposition to deny it. I ask for the opposition to either keep its opinion to itself, like I kept mine to myself, or pick up the gauntlet if it has something to say. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.