US May Force Kuwait to Cede Territory to Iraq: Ex-Minister

[mom cat]

US May Force Kuwait to Cede Territory to Iraq: Ex-Minister
Agence France Presse

KUWAIT CITY, 8 July 2004 — An influential member of Kuwait’s ruling family and former minister yesterday expressed concern the United States may coerce the emirate into making territorial concessions to Iraq as part of a new regional order.

“I am afraid that Iraq’s new order may be arranged at our expense. The Americans may impose it on us,” former Oil Minister Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah told Al-Seyassah daily in an interview.

“I am afraid that someone may come tomorrow to say that the issue of Umm Qasr (port) and Bubiyan and Warba (islands) needs to be reviewed. This time the request will not come from Iraq. It may come from the Americans,” the former official said.

“Now, we should expect the unexpected, because (major) events may take place in this region,” added the pro-American former official who was Kuwait’s ambassador to Washington during the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion and the Gulf War.


http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=47977&d=8&m=7&y=2004

How would this be for irony, if Kuwait had to turn over to Iraq the land that Saddam wanted. Lily Tomlin was right. (see below)

[BattyDem]

1. What right do we have ...

to tell Kuwait to cede territory to Iraq or any other country?!? :wtf:

[GainesT1958]

2. Hey, wait just a minute...

Isn't that what we SUPPOSEDLY fought Operation desert Storm about..Saddam invading Kuwait and "annexing" it into Iraq?:wtf:

If we start calling Kuwait "Iraqi Province 19", I'm going to be PISSED!:mad:

B-)

[Chicago Democrat]

38. Yeah, are they saying Saddam was right all along?

Jeez, sounds like there was some legitimate reasons for Saddam's beef with them.

[Imperialism Inc.]

39. That would be just too entirely insane.

I hope this is just BS. I'm pretty sure the hypocrisy would make my head explode.

[Chicago Democrat]

40. My blood pressure is up too..Might be helpful in his upcoming trial..

Given what we already know about the state department meeting with Saddam where some low level diplomat basically gave Saddam the go ahead for the Kuwait invasion by saying "US doesnt get involved in Arab to Arab conflicts."

[dansolo]

3. I have no sympathy for the Kuwaitis

They played a part in this farce all the way back before the first Gulf War. They instigated the whole deal by trying to steal Iraqi oil, and set into motion the whole chain of events that has led us to today. The Kuwaitis thought that they were partners in crime with the BFEE, but they should have realized that they were merely pawns, like everone else.

[mom cat]

5. It is like someone put all the chess pieces in a blender and a

maniac is playing with the buttons. I need a bigger score card.

[markses]

4. So Saddam Hussein was right in his claim to those territories?

If it weren't for the rows on rows of dead bodies, this truly would be a comedy of errors.

[Solon]

7. Just so I can destroy the illusion...

Saddam ASKED the US for permission to invade Kuwait before Gulf War 1 because of Kuwait slant drilling into Iraqi fields. Bush the first said he didn't care one way or the other, so Saddam invaded and occupied Kuwait until we made him out to be the Boogie Man of the Decade(TM). Not like Kuwait is ever free, 1 in 6 MALES are allowed to vote, and the parliment can be dissolved by the Monarchy at any time.

[Robbien]

9. So, Gulf War I was a war for profit also? n/t

[eablair3]

10. absolutely

you should check out the film
"Hidden Wars of Desert Storm"

[Solon]

12. Yes it was, also for punishment of Saddam....

He was our puppet in the Middle East, bar none, he took his orders from Washington, in return he got Chemical and Biological weapons, in addition to guns and helicopters to fight Iran. Of course Iran was promised the same thing, so we could fund the Contras. Talk about playing both sides!

I digress, Saddam did the one unforgivable sin, he became belligerent and started to defy orders from Washington. He needed to be knocked down a peg so the Bush I administration found the request Saddam made about Kuwait to be very convenient. You thought we did it out of altrusim, we NEVER conduct our foriegn policy that way. As President Woodrow Wilson said: "The Business of America is Business."

[Robbien]

13. Thanks, I knew Bush told Sadam he didn't care

but somehow I didn't think through the reasoning on why he would say it.

It is stories like this that make me wish it was in the realm of possibility that we could give Kucinich's Peace Department a chance.

[Merlin]

16. Gulf War 1 was about Establishing a permanent ME US Military Base

Of course THAT was about oil. The bases we established then were in SA, and that is what pissed off OBL. Now we have moved the bases to Iraq, which also explains the purpose of Gulf War 2 -- e.g. seeking to avoid an overthrow of the SA royals by moving the US military presence out of the country.

[burrowowl]

17. And for testing

some new weaponery.

[D-Notice]

28. Aren't all wars nowadays?

[Imperialism Inc.]

41. A war for various political and geo-strategic reasons

and to keep the money flowing to the military-industrial complex as the cold war was ending.

Chapter 52 : Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II
by William Blum
William Blum worked for the State Department until 1967, when his disgust with the Vietnam War forced him to abandon his aspiration to become a Foreign Service Officer. He is the author of Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II (Common Courage, 1995) and Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower (Common Courage, 2000)

http://members.aol.com/bblum6/iraq2.htm
Official statements notwithstanding, it appears that the
United States did indeed have an official position on the Iraq-Kuwait
border dispute. After the invasion, one of the documents the Iraqis
found in a Kuwaiti intelligence file was a memorandum concerning a
November 1989 meeting between the head of Kuwaiti state security and
CIA Director William Webster, which included the following:

We agreed with the American side that it was important to take
advantage of the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq
in order to put pressure on that country's government to
delineate our common border. The Central Intelligence Agency
gave us its view of appropriate means of pressure, saying that
broad cooperation should be initiated between us on condition
that such activities be coordinated at a high level.

The CIA called the document a "total fabrication". However,
as the Los Angeles Times pointed out, "The memo is not an obvious
forgery, particularly since if Iraqi officials had written it
themselves, they almost certainly would have made it far more
damaging to U.S. and Kuwaiti credibility."{17} It was apparently
real enough and damaging enough to the Kuwaiti foreign minister
-- he fainted when confronted with the document by his Iraqi
counterpart at an Arab summit meeting in mid-August.{18}

--
The above is very long and that small excerpt hardly does it justice. Suffice it to say there was a lot more going than we were led to believe. It would appear that at best we were sending mixed messages , at worst hoping Hussein would invade.

[lumpy]

29. Ironic and mind boggling.

My thoughts exactly,Solon

[54anickel]

35. Yep, I remember that. It was even covered by some of the media back

then. We had a woman diplomat or such some capacity to Iraq at that time - I remember the interview with her.

[lostnfound]

15. Not 'right or wrong'..the only issue is 'useful or not useful'.

Foreign policy decisions consider 'right and wrong' only when they are decided on rhetoric to sell it to the masses.

[keithyboy]

27. Yes, and he was right about 'slant drilling' and prostitution of Iraqis

Kuwaitis are rich beyond measure. They did use Iraqi poor women as prostitutes and they were 'slant drilling' Iraqi oil fields. The US knew all of this before Desert Storm. That's why the US did not object to Saddam's invasion at first...not until the Saudis pressured us to get involved. It's a sorrid history and may the souls of the real 'evil doers' rot in hell for the lives they caused to be lost and the destruction of a once beautiful and historical land.

[2cents]

6. A wannabe Saddam..

must be the pistol.

[moondust]

14. "My precious!"

[struggle4progress]

8. Let's see if I've got this straight.

Al-Sabah is worried the Americans may force Kuwait to give up territory to Iraq ... but he also says "it will be catastrophic" if * loses in November because "Democrats do not understand foreign policy"?

Something's screwy here. Are the Bushistas telling Kuwaitis that Kerry will carve up Kuwait? And I can't find this story anywhere else. Anyway, isn't Al-Sabah in China right now?

[tlcandie]

11. So, exactly who IS running their country? Georgie?

:wow: I'm with the rest of you in that I can't believe Gulf War over Kuwait and now because Iraq is going to be a US colonial state, it now rightfully belongs to the US....errrr Iraq. :puke:

Again, I whole-heartedly agree: if it wasn't for all the trail of dead, maimed, tortured bodies this would be absolutely laughable!

[0007]

19. Organize crime runs this country.

Didn't the Brits take Kuwait from Iraq in the first place?

Didn't poppy bush have oil investment in Kuwait during the time of Gulf war one. The U.S. tells Kuwait that it rightfully belong to Iraq?

This is getting crazy, maybe we'll be fighting the Brits next for the liberation of Kuwait.

[leftofthedial]

18. this is what started the first bush gulf war

is it the same territory at issue now?

[beanball]

20. Kuwait

was part of Iraq until England created Kuwait before they gave up one of their stolen countries(Iraq),now their crooked cousins have retaken Iraq.

[PurityOfEssence]

21. I'm sure Sickieticker Dick'll be happy to dump babies from the incubators

this time. (Not like that ever happened...)

[Capt_Nemo]

22. Serves those Al-Sabah motherf*****s right!

It's their just reward for having supported US aggressive designs!

[Disturbed]

23. Bush 1 more devious.

Saddam asked Ambassedor April Galespie if the US would interfere with his invasion of Kuwate. She said that the US doesn't interfere in local disputes. She was fired for saying this. This gave Bush 1 plaudible diniability for this deviousness.

If the US was so intent upon spreading democracy why has no pressure ever been placed on Kuwaite in 12 years to democratize?

[dusty64]

24. WOW! This really

is interesting.

[CWebster]

25. What?

This was Saddam's claim in addition to the charge that Kuwait was slant drilling oil.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

26. ......ummm.....ehh......what?

operation kuwaiti land grab

[daleo]

30. Here is a statement to ponder, from the Kuwaiti official

"“Now, we should expect the unexpected, because (major) events may take place in this region,” added the pro-American former official who was Kuwait’s ambassador to Washington during the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion and the Gulf War."

Is this foreshadowing more war? Iran is pretty close to the contested territory as well.

It would be the final irony if Bush/BFEE was to take territory from Kuwait, thus aping or being implicated in every one of the crimes that Saddam has been accused of. It would amaze me, but not surprise me, if you know what I mean.

[Peregrine]

31. I was talking to a Syrian national about Iraq

He was saying that the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was justified. Iraq and Kuwait had a treaty that prevented either country from drilling for oil in a stretch of territory along their borders, this territory was in Iraq. For years the Kuwaitis were sneaking into the area and drilling. And since the Gulf War, the Kuwaitis installed pipelines from those wells.

[leQ]

32. that last line: "democrats do not understand foreign policy"

cracks me up.

[Minstrel Boy]

33. When was it we went through the looking glass?

Or is this the way the world's always been, and it's just now we're paying attention?

[lumpy]

37. This is the way it has always been.

The human race has always been afflicted with the Seven Deadly Sins. Alas, I'm afraid Jesus Christ and other avatars of God failed in the mission to truly make brotherly love work in this world. Human conscience hasn't evolved at the same rate as human intelligence and that isn't doing to well either.

[Blackaxe]

34. This just sounds odd.

This guy is afraid of so much stuff, but I've got to wonder if he really knows what he's talking about.

[Disturbed]

36. The way it has been and is still.

"this the way the world's always been, and it's just now we're paying attention?

Yes, now we are paying more attention because we see how it effects us.

I hate to admit this but I believed the lies of the 1st Gulf War from the Bush1 Admin. ;(