Sheikh Jaber follows neutral policy
This is the 22th in a series of articles on HH the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah (1926-2006), the 13th ruler of Kuwait Iraq-Iran war puts Kuwait on red alert
While HH Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad was spurring the development of his country’s natural and human resources — higher education, industry, commerce and agriculture to minimize dependency on oil revenues, the Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein was leading Iraq to its economic downfall lavishing on armament and ignoring the economic infrastructure of its country. This was revealed in 1978 when Iraq’s economic growth was no more than 9% per annum!
Instead of using its oil revenues in progressive economic developments as Kuwait was doing, the Iraqi regime was squandering its resources on armaments to gain power over its neighbors in the region, a fact that became obvious in its declaration of war on Iran and its invasion of Kuwait soon after its defeat, to cover its colossal losses in that senseless war.
According to Iraq’s own estimate, it spent 102,000,000,000 US dollars on arms prior to declaring war on Iran, from which, after eight years of struggle, pain and bloodshed, it emerged defeated, shaken and deeper in debt. Indeed Iraq became the most indebted of all the Arab countries! Its loss in capital alone during that war amounted to 63,000,000,000 US dollars! Not to mention the heavy loss of human life and the economic drag its industrial sector suffered, hindered by the decline in the country’s total investment.
Iraq’s importation of manufactured goods soared to 81% of the total goods used in Iraq, in spite of the fact that Iraqi propaganda bragged of its industrial achievements. Its disproportionate industrial and technological dependency on the outside world rendered Iraq commercially very vulnerable, especially because it concentrated most of its imports from the more advanced industrial countries. During the war with Iran, Iraq’s reliance on its oil revenues was almost total (99.3% of government funds were from its oil revenues). This obviously made the Iraqi economy vulnerable to oil price fluctuations in the world market.
A country that was more than self sufficient in agricultural products, was forced to import cereals in ever increasing quantity, while Kuwait, in spite of all the odds defying agriculture, was able to achieve a degree of self sufficiency in this matter and export its horticultural products, mainly vegetables. The one-sided policy of the Iraqi regime and its concentration on armament, while ignoring its economic development defied its purpose of becoming a power in the region, which Saddam Hussein was aiming at achieving.
Stability
HH Sheikh Jaber believed that it was not by force that a country would gain power in the new world order in which stability and peace is the objective. The time for military conquests is long gone, any new world powers is the one most economically and technologically advanced.
The mistake Saddam Hussein was making was flared by his dream of reviving the ancient glory of the Assyrian Empire through military superiority, but relying heavily on imported high tech weaponry was a high risk he was taking because of world politics .
In his dream of expansion, Saddam was also trying to imitate the tactics of his idol, Adolf Hitler, who had highly developed domestic technology and an army of young men trained from early childhood ready to fight and die for the glory of their country. With such a backing, Hitler set to conquer the world, but even the mightiest of dictators will eventually crumble when pitted against the whole world!
Notwithstanding his power, Hitler was defeated, but the legend created around him lives on. Inebriated by the glory of his victories and ignoring his defeat, Saddam Hussein tried to follow on his footsteps with disastrous consequences not only to his country but also to the whole Arab world.
The escalating of the Iran-Iraq crisis instigated by Saddam Hussein on account of the Algerian treaty he himself signed with Iran put the Gulf countries on red alert. HH Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad was particularly concerned when any hope for a peaceful solution evaporated when Iraq declared war on Iran.
As he expected, it was to be a futile, long and bloody conflict that only weakened the Arab stand in the world and left Iraq empty handed and deeper in debt. Notwithstanding the fact that Iraq was the aggressor, hence, the self defense pact of the Arab League did not apply to its case; Kuwait had to stand in support of Iraq under pressure from the Parliament, the media, the public opinion, even from the members of the Chamber of Commerce!
Retaliation
Expecting Kuwait would inevitably suffer from Iranian retaliation; HH Sheikh Jabercautioned his people against siding with any of the belligerent parties, reminding them that keeping neutral had been the traditional policy of Kuwait since it was born. Neutrality had been the strategy that safeguarded Kuwait’s interests and enhanced its prosperity and security. A deviation from this policy only meant trouble.
As he foresaw, by supporting Iraq financially and morally, Kuwait was soon made to suffer from Iranian retaliations directly and indirectly; directly Iran began attacking Kuwait oil tankers, forcing Kuwait to re-flag all her ships under the American flag for protection. To avoid criticism from its Arab neighbors Kuwait announced that its agreement with the United States was a purely commercial one and did not involve joint security commitments with the United States.
In the meantime from the fall of 1983 sympathizers with Iran began waging a series of terrorist of attacks in the country beginning with the American and French embassies and five Kuwaiti facilities by a pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad group that left five people dead and sixty three severely injured.
In the past there were cases of violence in the country but never of such a magnitude; for they were mainly related to Palestinian feuding.
After this attack state security was tightened and put on red alert. At the same time the GCC countries, having also sided with Iraq, formed the Peninsula Shield, a joint strike force against an Iranian attack, but this did not prevent an even more serious incident that rocked Kuwait!