‘End graft to fight extremists’

‘Civilians losers in IS battle’

“SINCE the formation of the international coalition to fight the Islamic State (IS) or the so-called ‘DAESH’ in both Syria and Iraq, the civilians were the victims of military operations when this coalition carried out strikes on the areas dominated by the ‘DAESH’ elements in Syria and Iraq,” columnist and attorney

wrote for daily. “In Mosul, Iraq, for instance, more than 65,000 civilians have been reluctant to leave their homes so far although the war between the Iraq-International Coalition against ‘DAESH’ still persists although all indications point to sad ending.

“As a matter of fact, ‘DAESH’ is currently involved in a guerilla warfare fighting the Iraqis and the international coalition troops. This kind of war is ‘hit and run’, and the warring factions depend on booby traps to scare away the people in violation of human values. This is cowardice and brutality at its height because this violates the Geneva conventions.

“Given the above, we suggest the Iraqi and the International Coalition troops must deal patiently with this type of guerilla warfare and this can be realized by imposing a long term siege on ‘DAESH’ to deprive them of all kinds of supplies including foodstuffs and keep in mind that the followers of this organization are suffering from mental disorders.

“In other words, the ‘DAESH’ combatants believe they are fighting for martyrdom and this is their basic motive that encourages them to be steadfast in fighting their opponents and this means all the concerned parties should wage a media war to cast doubts on the ideology of this organization and destabilize the conviction of its members, particularly since we know most of the ‘DAESH’ fighters have been cheated by keeping them under the impression that they are fighting for the sake right, justice and real Islam.

“Meanwhile, we should keep in mind that the progress of the Iraqi troops and its effort to liberate Mosul, will face many obstacles that will be mostly represented by the landmines which have been planted by ‘DAESH’ in Mosul and along the periphery of this city.

“The combatants of this organization since the past years have been digging tunnels around the city to impede the progress of the Iraqi troops and prevent the latter from entering the city.

“Not only that, ‘DAESH’ has been holding civilians as human shields to prevent the Iraqi army from attacking its locations in Mosul because we know the population of this city is roughly estimated to be two million people and this shall play a significant role in terms of impeding the progress of the Iraqi troops towards the city.

“Apart from the above, we say ‘DAESH’ is still involved in recruiting new combatants to train them to carry out the suicide operations in populated areas and this is exactly what has occurred recently in rural areas of western Pakistan.

“In spite of the above, the Iraqi troops are insisting at the moment to liberate Mosul from ‘DAESH’ and the troops have been saying all along that the defeat of ‘DAESH’ in Mosul is inevitable. This defeat looks like a matter of time, particularly since we know that the elements of organization have started sneaking into the Iraqi desert.

“In this context, we recall the same scenario which occurred in 2007 when the Iraqi desert at that time was transformed into a base for ‘DAESH’ elements in general for the foreign combatants who had joined this organization in particular and this gave boost to its existence to enable it to blackmail the people in view of its domination of both the major and feeder roads in the relevant areas.

“In the wake of this development, the combatants of ‘DAESH’ had actually concentrated their attack on their foes from both the Iraqi tribes and security forces and had managed to plant the fear and the noconfidence among the Iraqis and this contributed to the creation of the necessary appropriate circumstance for resuming their activities after six years of such development.

“Anyway, we expect this international support including the support from the State Kuwait which has been extended to Iraq against ‘DAESH’ in support of the Iraqi government and the Iraqi civilians against the brutality of extremism, will eventually result in defeating and expelling ‘DAESH’ from Mosul.

“We say the above, although we realize that the current circumstances look difficult, but it is also appropriate to rebuild a new strong Arab Iraq although this reality is currently torn apart by political and social factors.

“Moreover, the struggle which currently takes place in Syria will help complicate the equation and this shall result in pursuing the ‘DAESH’ combatants throughout the desert that links the two countries and this is a complicated issue.

“Such being the case, we suggest winning the war against ‘DAESH’ and the liberation of the Mosul from this organization can be realized only by purging corruption and the brutality of this organization and filling the political and security vacuum which currently exists in Iraq, otherwise many ‘DAESHES’ will emerge from the Iraqi desert.”

Al-Sanea

“We the Arabs as a result of our weaknesses and the divisions, believe that the world is conspiring against us,” columnist wrote for daily.

“As a matter of fact, the US and its intelligence agency throughout the world create political plots to apply the same on big powers, and these policies are sometimes successful and at other times doomed to failure.

“But unfortunately all plots target the success of the Arab nation. In spite of the above and by the grace of Almighty Allah, the Gulf-Egyptian unity has failed the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ although we the Arabs have lost Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen in the name of this spring.

“In his book ‘A Set of Secrets’ published in 2001 before the 9/11 events, James Bamford said the US senior policymakers had in 1961 set up a plan to wage a terrorist attack against the Americans and kill them, and then accuse the communist Cuba President Dr Fidel Castro of behind this terrorist attack to justify the then American attack on Cuba.

“As a matter of fact, the man who was commissioned to set up a plan was the Joint Chief-of-Staff but according to Bamford this plan was turned down.

“Meanwhile, Bamford said he had obtained a document confirming the US Army generals had suggested a confidential plan to fabricate an attack on the American base in Guantanamo and accuse Castro of involvement in this operation.

“However, for these generals, this fabricated attack would result in the US citizens demand the then US administration invade Cuba, but according to the writer this plan remained a secret.

“Given the above, we conclude how the secret services of the great powers were always involved in creating crises here and there for the sake of serving the interests of major firms and senior decision-makers of these powers.

“In the meantime, we infer that the senior US political decision-makers are always behind wars that erupt here and there, because these politicians are the real representatives of major firms which are involved in manufacturing military weapons and the owners of gold, diamond, banks and media.

“We pray to the Almighty Allah to protect Kuwait.”

“The policy adopted by Saudi Arabia two years ago to reduce oil production by convincing other OPEC members to follow suit with the aim of scaring off the marginal influence of US shale oil has caused the prices of oil to fall below $30. At the moment, the production of shale oil continues, although investment has slumped a bit, whereas the Saudi driven policy has failed to take out the competitor from the market,” columnist wrote for

daily. “The policy brought a huge loss in revenue and income of the oil producing countries whose budgets inflated following years of oil prices hike. Saudi Arabia might be on the top of those largely affected by the aforesaid policy. To this day, I haven’t found any scientific or practical justification for that purpose. The OPEC countries are immersed in how to deal with the new reality, while there is no glimpse of hope for Kuwait’s economic reform without the establishment of a logistical trade zone that links the east and the west like the islands project.

“As for Saudi Arabia, she managed to read the reality faster and foresaw the future after the slump in oil prices which may have deepened further if we put renewable energy such as sun in the picture, despite its calculations on the policy it adopted. She took initiatives to sell 5 percent of Aramco ($2 trillion) and to support researches and studies and investment in the foe “US shale oil” which was supposed to vanish from the market!

“In my opinion, Saudis are trying to coordinate with the Americans to support the current oil prices to put it at $70, which is favorable to the two sides. The Kingdom has learnt her lesson! For the rest of the pack if they do not take heed and embark on real reform, they will join Venezuela.”

“According to the British writer Robert Fisk, Arab houses are very clean but their streets are not, because they believe the houses belong to them but not their countries,” wrote for

daily. “From my perspective, there are two reasons behind this phenomenon. The first reason is that we link our homeland to the government. This is a big problem because the government is just responsible for the political administration of the country and is not permanent. No government lasts forever. On the other hand, a country has history and geography. It is where the graves of our ancestors are present, where we have our lands, trees, books, identity, customs and traditions.

“Consequently, when we are not satisfied with the government, we think we are punishing it by harming the country. In fact, the government has nothing to do with the streets where we walk, the hospitals where we all receive medical treatments or the universities where we and our children receive education. These facilities are not owned by those who manage them. They are owned by those who use them. Therefore, there are many ways to punish the government but these ways do not include punishing the country by destroying public properties.

“The second reason is that we do not value public property. For example, the one who dirties public toilets is the same who keeps his private toilet clean. The one who is keen about the cleanliness and proper arrangement of his furniture in his house is the same one who carves his name on the desks of schools and universities for being remembered. The mother who urges her daughter not to miss a single lecture at the university is the same employee who takes fake sick leaves to stay away from work.

“People who seek punishing the government by destroying the country do not deserve a better government. Proving that we are indeed sophisticated cannot be achieved through clean private gardens but through the appearance of public parks after we leave from there.

“When we study ourselves carefully, we will discover that we are being our own enemies. It is important to stress that a man does not need clean streets to be respected but the streets need respected people to be clean.”

“The news published recently about the Public Authority for the Disabled concerning illegal payment of salaries and allowances to undeserved disabled people as well as the continued disbursement to dead beneficiaries highlights a situation that reflects not only administrative corruption and dereliction of duty but also height of moral disaster from both sides,” wrote for daily.

“Ensuring that the rights of the disabled are upheld such that all segments of mental, physical and other disabilities obtain their rights is of extreme significance. People with special needs are very important; they are creative and able to contribute a lot, and they are filled with hope. In fact, many of them have been the ones who push and encourage able-bodied people to be optimistic and assure them that they are strong enough to overcome the impossible.

“Therefore, enabling those people to get their rights is a responsibility for everybody. The reason is that many of them, especially those with learning impairment, suffer from bureaucracy, long administrative procedures and lack of fund. It later became clear that their rights have gone into the wrong hands.

“Violating the rights of people with special needs is not a new issue. This is the reason why some people are struggling to secure positions at the concerned public authority. It is high time this mockery stops and Kuwait rises again with all its institutions and agencies.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb