Sheikh Sabah promotes human solidarity
Pioneer sees war as waste of resources
This is the 16th in a series of articles on His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad, the pioneer of the political movement in modern Kuwait and the 15th ruler of Kuwait.
— Editor
caused an angry reaction and an avalanche of criticism that condemned the Saddam regime, whose expansionist aim began with an absurd war on Iran, followed by a bigger mistake with invading Kuwait, from which he was expelled in a humiliating defeat.
There was a similar reaction in the GCC countries, which further thwarted Iraqi expectation to gain their support.
One political mistake after another didn’t make the Iraqi dictator wiser or less arrogant, indeed he continued defying the international community to the detriment of his country causing more suffering to his people.
Saddam Hussein spent trillions of US dollars in building his army; within two decades of ruling and two disastrous wars in between he sank his country to the brink of bankruptcy and destroyed hundreds of thousands of human lives.
Iraq has all the potentials to be one of the richest countries in the world: it has a fertile land and an abundance of mineral resources, the main of which is a vast oil reservoir.
In spite of these advantages, a series of unstable governments has reduced it to one of the poorest countries in the world!
There was a time when Iraq held the promise of becoming the beacon of Arab hopes under the guidance of a man who loved his country and worked for the welfare of his people. That man was Noori Al Said, the Iraqi Premier and friend of King Faisal, who ruled during the first and most stable period of modern Iraq.
Noori’s dream was to make his country “the Number One” among the Arab states; he began with spurring the development of agriculture and industry and encouraged the development of culture to the highest level; but his wise administration evoked the jealousy of his power-hungry opponent, a young lawyer, the clever but unstable Rashid Ali al Ghailani who maneuvered Noori out of office and established a nationalist pressure group — the National brotherhood.
The demise of King Faisal and
Lidia Qattan
Noori no longer in control of Iraq, the country plunged into uncertainty with a series of unstable governments, each one more corrupt than the previous one. The arrival of Saddam Hussein at the head of Al Ba’ath party, on the 17th of July 1968, marks the most tragic phase in the history of modern Iraq, and the greater suffering of the Kuwaitis from repeated Iraqi intrigues that culminated in the 1990-91 invasion and the liberation of Kuwait on the 26th of February 1991.
Saddam Hussein’s disrespect of the UN Security Council’s resolutions, which he signed for an armistice in the Gulf War, and his persistent defiance of other decrees issued against his regime, finally wore off the tolerance of the international community.
Faced with another war the Iraqi dictator began showing some cooperation and willingness to fulfill his obligations, but soon reverted to his typical defiance of international and regional resolutions and breach of promises.
His threatening of world peace and stability made his removal from power inevitable.
Usually when a government loses a war it is expected to resign, but in spite of his humiliating defeat in the Gulf War of 1991, Saddam’s regime remained in power, thereby perpetuating the suffering of the Iraqi people and threatening its neighbors .
In spite of the masses around the world affected by the mischievous Iraqi propaganda were clamoring against another war on Iraq, the Iraqi regime itself made it inevitable.
Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad is primarily a man of peace, for he sees in war only waste of capital and resources and a trail of human suffering, but when on the 20th of March 2003 war was declared on Iraq, he knew it could not be prevented.
Kuwait took no part in the conflict, but it quickly became the target of Iraqi rockets hitting vital installations, industrial areas, even a Mall in downtown Kuwait, causing panic among the civilians.
Measures
While security and defense measures were quickly mobilized to protect his country, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad called for an emergency meeting of the GCC Ministerial Council, which honored the Joint Defense Treaty and deployed the “Peninsula Shield” to defend Kuwait from further attacks.
In spite of Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad worked long and hard through the years to reunite the Arab world, even helping those countries that stood in support of the aggressor during the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion, those same countries began attacking Kuwait with strong criticism, for trying to defend itself against the renewed Iraqi harassing!
Preparing for war the Iraqi regime concentrated its arsenal in the most densely populated areas of Baghdad, so when the war erupted in 2003, civilian casualties could not be avoided.
Moved to compassion Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad immediately mobilized humanitarian aid to Iraq, but it could only be delivered to the people when the port of Um Qaser fell in the hands of the coalition army and the area south of Iraq was safe enough for food, water, blankets, tents and thousands of ready-meals to be distributed.
The Kuwait Ministry of Health also set up a field hospital and sentin medical supplies; it also set up humanitarian relief centers and health clinics.
Incidentally humanitarian aid became the policy of Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad in promoting human solidarity around the world, through extending his philanthropic activities worldwide to suffering people. In recognition of his humanitarian stand in September 2014 the United Nation honored HH Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad with the title “Humanitarian Leader”
To be continued