Tributes pour in for Bush senior who played key role in Kuwait’s liberation
George H.W. Bush, who was decorated as a torpedo bomber pilot in the US Navy in the Second World War and became the 41st President of the US, passed away on Friday at his home in Houston, Texas.
His time in office was praised for helping to maintain stability during the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Another foreign policy success was his handling of the 1991 Gulf War. He led a strong international campaign to drive Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait. He devoted much of his time to foreign affairs, approached it with his characteristic conservatism and pragmatism. Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia joined the US to form a coalition articulating the four principles that guided “Operation Desert Shield.”
“I extend my sincerest condolences to the Bush family and to the American people upon the passing of the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. May he Rest in Peace,” said Saudi Ambassador to the US Prince Khalid bin Salman.
Kuwait’s ruling Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said that Bush tried to “create a new international order based on justice and equality among nations,” and that he never “forgot the Kuwaiti people and will remain in their memory.”
“It is not a surprise that the late President George H.W. Bush is being remembered so fondly today by many people in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and elsewhere in the region. His resolve and resoluteness during the Gulf War is still regarded by many in the US and in the international community as the penultimate example of steady leadership during a time of crisis,” Fahad Nazer, a fellow with the National Council on US Arab Relations, told Arab News.
The decisiveness and moral clarity that President Bush and the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia demonstrated during the crisis has set a high bar for other world leaders, he said.
“In some ways, both President Bush and King Fahd’s legacies were forged during the crisis; President Bush for his commitment to maintaining international order and King Fahd for demonstrating in both words and actions, his solidarity with Kuwait during its most difficult chapter,” Nazer said.