‘GCC seeks Iraq stability’

‘Peace to reflect on Kuwait’

“IN a strange turn of events following the British report about the war on Iraq in 2003 stating the said war was unjustifiable, member of the legal panel at the Iraqi House of Representatives Alia Naseef called for international measures to appeal against the compensations which Iraq paid to Kuwait due to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, claiming the compensations are illegal,” columnist and former Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Education wrote for daily.

“She purported these compensations were paid although Iraq was subjected to the United Nations Chapter VII. This means Iraq at the time had no capability to pay the compensations. In spite of Naseef’s allegation, the Iraqi government confirmed that the compensations were paid pursuant to the United Nations Law and Charter.

“Not just that, the settlement of compensations currently depends on mutual understanding between Kuwait and Iraq. Kuwait has agreed to postpone settlement of some portion of the compensations to help Baghdad deal with the current financial meltdown. This is in view of the drastic drop of oil prices in the international market. Eventually, it will be able to abide by the United Nations Security Council resolution on the compensations which Baghdad must pay to Kuwait.

“The local media recently published statements attributed to Naseef, stating that she will file a case against Britain and the international coalition member-States which participated in the occupation of Iraq in 2003. This happened although Naseef opposed the payment of compensation to Kuwait, ignoring the fact that the invasion destroyed Kuwait’s infrastructure and resources, let alone the burning of oil wells, chaos, arrest and killing of many citizens.

“Naseef also threatened to reclaim the compensations paid by Baghdad to Kuwait in accordance with an international resolution issued in this regard by the United Nations Security Council.

“Anyway, the compensations payable to Kuwait and its sovereignty are not in the hands of Naseef, the Iraqi MPs or ministers, simply because the international community, represented by the United Nations Security Council, settled this many years ago. Therefore, nobody is allowed to violate Kuwaiti rights.

“The current circumstances necessitate some Iraqi MPs and senior officials to quickly improve their relations with neighboring countries, respect the international resolutions and transform Iraq into a country that fully abides by the international law.

“Iraq is currently witnessing miserable circumstances which negatively affected its security and stability. Most Iraqis are now suffering from poverty, instability and anarchy as manifested in the conflicts between Iraqi sects and components. Iraq suffers daily due to explosions and booby-trapped cars whereas the international rating reports placed Iraq on top of countries in terms of corruption.

“We need a secure and stable Iraq such that nobody will be allowed to intervene in its internal affairs. We are still optimistic that Iraq will witness positive changes which shall lead it towards the right path, especially since the negative and positive developments in Iraq will affect Kuwait and other Gulf countries. Many are waiting to see Iraq surmount the crises and then boost stability of the entire region.

“Surmounting all the crises in Iraq is not an easy task, but it is possible through the unity of all Iraqis. Solving the Iraqi crises and combating terrorism are also possible through the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council member-States that are eagerly waiting for Iraq to bask in security and stability.”

Al-Sharrah

Also:

“Due to the solidarity and support of the Turkish people and the entire world for the constitutional legitimacy and democratic regime in Turkey, the country managed to ‘escape’ from the military coup on July 15, 2016. However, the reasons behind the coup and its ramifications shall remain the topic of political and informational analyses for a long time,” columnist

wrote for

daily. “Nevertheless, some media platforms like newspapers hinted that the military coup was fabricated by the Turkish ruling regime. Some attributed the failure of the coup to the fact that its leaders did not take into account the Turkish popular reaction against it and how the people responded to the call of the Turkish president to take to the streets. This led to turmoil, randomness and apprehension, in addition to the arrest and assault of many journalists.

“Historically, it is known that whenever a military coup is carried out, the leaders impose a curfew and declare a state of emergency. Yet, Turkey witnessed the contrary as the government declared a state of emergency.

“The country also witnessed apprehension among a large number of people, while rumor has it that the Turkish president is contemplating on re-implementing the law on capital punishment.

“Many judges and military generals have been arrested, whereas the government continues to pursue the opposition abroad. This raised concern among human rights organizations and some countries, including the European Union member-States, which supported the Turkish regime.

“We presume that the Turkish regime shall invest the popular and global support in ingraining the principles of freedom and the country’s constitution, because it is obvious that the international community supports the Turkish constitutional legitimacy, not just the ruling regime.

“It is needless to say that the situation in Turkey will be better in the coming days. We hope Turkey will be stable soon, particularly since we know that the Middle East is now suffering from anarchy and it is facing a lot of challenges.

“The support of the Turkish people for the ruling regime reminds us of the great support given by the Kuwaitis to their legitimate and democratic regime during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

“In conclusion, we would like to point out that democracy has never been a political luxury, as it is a strong shield for the State, the regime and the people.”

“Despite the arrest of several individuals who admitted to illegally obtaining their Kuwaiti citizenship and guiding others to do the same, the disorganization over the last batch of passports led the General Department for Citizenship and Passport Affairs to admit its inability to link the DNA testing to the e-passport system”, wrote for

daily. “In addition, the department also declared that the new passports will be available from the beginning of October but without the DNA testing or without linking the DNA test results with the new passport. The new passports will be distributed without the need for resorting to the service centers or launching media campaign for DNA testing and new passports.

“Earlier, the department replaced passports more than once without creating uproar like the way it does now. If the department continues its current policy, it will eliminate the phenomenon of forgery as soon as possible and the forgers will eventually lessen.

“The department may succeed in using the method of threatening about the use of DNA testing but we know it will not use it any time soon as a lot of procedures must be applied.”

“The world no longer needs to be informed about the dangers of extremist ideologies because the entire world is suffering from terror attacks which lead to deaths every day”,

wrote for

daily. “Therefore, it has become crystal clear to all the people in this world that terrorism knows no religion and is not linked to any specific nation or race or color. All extremists are the same. They share the same mindset and use the same tools. They all share the same hatred towards humanity.

“The lovely country of Japan with its king and humble people recently experienced terrorism which resulted in the death of 19 innocents and injuries to 25 others, as per the statement of a Japanese official. The criminal used a knife to carry out the terror attack at a location for the disabled. Strangely, when the police questioned the criminal about the reasons for committing such a crime, he said he wanted to get rid of all disabled people in the world.

“This incident and many others around the world prove that terrorism is blind and it has no particular religion or nation”.

“I am not among those who like Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I do not like his political way of thinking especially after his recent releases over naturalization of relations with Israel”, wrote for daily.

“Nevertheless, I admire his political history which started with him being a governor and eventually becoming a president through fair elections. I admire the fact that he fulfilled all the promises and developed his country to a large extent. Therefore, I was not shocked by his behavior during the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

“The man did not run to a Western embassy seeking protection. He did not board a place and flee to a foreign country to request for asylum. He instead called his people to protect their democracy.

“Erdogan eventually got what he asked for. The tanks withdrew and the officers and soldiers surrendered their weapons. In the neighboring countries, it is common for tanks to face people but in Turkey, the opposite happened whereby the people faced the tanks and defeated them.

“Strangely, the leaders of the Opposition parties in Turkey responded to the call of Erdogan as though they accept that he is the leader who was elected by the people.

“On the other hand, it was very shameful as well as suspicious when some people rushed to declare their happiness about the coup even before things were clear. The coup attempt failed and it might be good for Turkey to purge from the army those who think of holding such coups. People are not immature; they have the right to rule without being subjected to the domination of the army”.

“The entire world was shocked to hear about the terror attack in Nice, France which was carried out by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. He was a Tunisian with French residence because of the fact that the French society believes in coexistence and acceptance of others. We also discovered that the western Arab community is regarded as the biggest community in France to the extent that some of them occupy top leadership positions, a feat that deserve respect and appreciation for France”,

wrote for daily.

“However, the terror attack took the lives of so many French people of different backgrounds. This is the habit of terrorism which knows no religion, country and nationality. This reality confirms that whatever happened in France can happen anywhere else.

“For example, the earlier shooting incident at the Orlando nightclub by Omar Mateen is not linked to DAESH, as assumed initially. He has sexual deviation problems due to which he took revenge by attacking the people at the gay club. This applies to Bouhlel who is not a religious person but is a domestic violence convict who took out his anger on the world.

“We have to realize that terrorism is now following new methods that are contrary to the traditional ones. We have the huge responsibility of bolstering the principle of coexistence in our societies and create systems for rehabilitating the psychologically distressed persons so that we will not pay the price for their distress”.

“Following the conviction of the Abdali Cell members by our just judiciary system and the acquittal of some of the accused, we have to condemn all those who have been proven of committing treason. We have to boldly say without showing favoritism or using flattery”,

wrote for daily.

“It is necessary for everyone without exception to be patriotic and condemn all who are convicted as well as to consolidate the spirit of patriotism and abstain from sectarianism. Let us support our judiciary and leadership.

“Terrorism knows no country or land. One year ago, we were shocked over the terror attack on Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque where many innocent worshippers were killed and wounded. The terrorist came from a sisterly country, but we cannot generalize this act on all our brothers in Saudi Arabia. We have recently completed the trial and issued a verdict against the Abdali cell which wanted to harm the country. They are Kuwaitis also; however, we cannot generalize this act also on our Shiite brothers.

“Therefore, we all especially the rational thinkers among the people of Kuwait must abstain from sowing hatred and sedition. We must not allow others to harm our unity, patriotism and our love for this beautiful nation. We cannot distinguish between a friend and foe these days due to which we are required to stand united. Soon we will all leave but our Kuwait will remain and our children will become victims. What we sow today, our children will reap tomorrow”.

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb