More Than a Feeling

[darrels joy]

More Than a Feeling
By BRIAN FITZGERALD
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC


KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait ? This tiny Gulf state is surrounded by larger neighbors Iraq, to the north, and Saudi Arabia, to the west and south. A nation of almost 2 million souls, Kuwait clings to the Persian Gulf, with a wide and inviting bay well appointed by nature for its task of feeding the world's petroleum markets.

The business here is oil. Kuwait boasts reserves of oil second only to Saudi Arabia. And if that isn't enough, the tiny kingdom, smaller than the state of New Jersey, has a very powerful best friend.

The United States led the military effort to drive Saddam Hussein's military from Kuwait after Iraq invaded in August 1990. The United States again led the effort, using Kuwait as a base, to depose Saddam and take control of Iraq in 2003.

Since 1991, residents of Kuwait have grown used to seeing vast convoys of American military might driving down their highways. Kuwaitis are also familiar with seeing squads of young men, all with close haircuts, snapping photos of the famous central souk, or marketplace, in downtown Kuwait City.

The soldiers of the Yakima-based 737th Transportation Company haven't made it here, yet. Camp Doha is visible, just across Kuwait Bay, but for the 737th's soldiers it might as well be Seattle.

Eventually, some of them will come here, apprehensive perhaps, about how they are perceived by those who call Kuwait home.

Though officially a friend of the United States and an ally in the war on terror, soldiers here are aware that they, and the United States, are not loved by many in the Arab world.

So they might be surprised to hear what some residents of Kuwait have to say about the presence of so many American soldiers.

"They are so friendly," said Talal Al-Khubaizi, 31, a Kuwait City resident who works for the Kuwait Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We don't look at them as soldiers."

When the 737th does come to town, they'll find a city that appears scrubbed clean of any damage wrought by the Iraqi occupation 13 years ago. Tall buildings, draped in red, green and white neon lights, the colors of the Kuwaiti flag, nestle Western restaurant chains like Chili's and T.G.I. Friday's.

There are traces, however.

Looming 372 meters above the city's downtown is the Liberation Tower, completed in March 1996, that commemorates Iraq's defeat by the U.S.-led coalition. Not far away is a McDonald's restaurant with a sign reading "Liberation Kuwait."

Venturing farther from Kuwait City into the nearby town of Fahaheel, others also are quick to voice a positive view of the United States.

"I like all Americans," said Jihad Masood Nablse, a shopkeeper from Syria. "The (U.S.) military has been good for the Kuwaiti people."

Given that Damascus and Washington have been at odds for many years, one might expect Syrians to take a dim view of the American government, and Americans in general. Not Nablse.

"I like people as people. People are not the government."

Muhammed Khalid, from Pakistan, is a teacher at the Pakistan English School in Fahaheel. He has lived and worked in Kuwait for 14 years, and describes life since Saddam's regime was ousted last year:

"We are feeling very safe here. Before, Kuwaitis were very afraid."

Asked about the large U.S. military presence, Khalid said the soldiers "have done a good job in Iraq. That regime was not good, for all of us."

While feelings may be positive toward the United States and the large military presence on their soil, Kuwaitis don't speak for the rest of the Arab world in their support of the United States during the 2003 Iraq war.

"The only guys who call (the war) 'liberation' are the Kuwaitis," said Al-Khubaizi, the foreign affairs employee. The rest of the Arab world, he said, views it as an occupation.

While he understands why some Iraqis might feel this way, Al-Khubaizi doesn't agree with Arabs from other countries who feel the United States is an invading force.

"The Arabs don't like it, but they don't live here as we do. They haven't seen what we've seen," he said.

"Even if (the U.S. military) stays 10 years more, so what? They're doing their job."


BRIAN FITZGERALD/Yakima Herald-Republic
Kuwait City resident Talal Al Khubaizi, 31, works for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was just 18 when Saddam Hussein's troops invaded prior to the first Gulf War. In the aftermath of the U.S.-led effort to remove Saddam from power that has much of the world at odds with the United States, Al Khubaizi says Kuwaitis support the United States and "are 100 percent glad" Saddam is gone.

[darrels joy]

BRIAN FITZGERALD/Yakima Herald-Republic
Located in the downtown area of Kuwait City, this McDonald's restaurant is a symbol both of Western influence on this small Arab kingdom and of Kuwait's attitude toward the first Gulf War.

[BLUEHAWK]

Dang Joy, ya mean SOMEBODY there DOES like us !!!