‘Egypt Kuwait’s friend in need’

‘Nasser, Mubarak foiled Iraqi plots’

“THE Egyptian court recently issued a verdict to acquit former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak of all charges,” columnist, the State of Kuwait former envoy to the United Nations and former secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)

wrote for daily. “As a matter of fact, Kuwait’s history talks about two prominent Egyptian leaders who have played a historical role in the past and present and Kuwait’s diplomacy showers praises on these attitudes. In other words, these two leaders actually have eked for themselves a permanent presence in the Kuwaiti history; each of them making contributions in their own way in the life of Kuwait.

“The former Egyptian president the late Jamal Abdul Al-Nasser turned down the former Iraqi president Abdulkarim Qasim claims to annex Kuwait to Iraq.

“In this context, we say we can’t forget the cable that was sent by president Nasser to the then Amir of Kuwait the late Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem praising the independence of Kuwait and considered this development a victory for the Arab nation.

“On June 27, 1961, a historic statement was issued which said Al-Nasser had closely followed up a sudden conflict between the government of Iraq and the government of Kuwait. In the statement Nasser defined the attitude of the then Arab United Republic (Egypt and Syria) to this conflict hinting the relations among the Arabs were never governed either by old or new treaties and agreements.

“He went on say Cairo doesn’t accept the Iraqi logic of annexing Kuwait, simply because the unity should only be based on a free consensus choice that is capable of reflecting the reciprocal free will of the peoples. He added the independence of Kuwait is a step that should be inevitably encouraged and secured by us motivated by our nationalistic spirit.

“On June 30, 1961, the State of Kuwait requested military help from Britain. But on July 5, 1961, Cairo issued a statement opposing the British existence in Kuwait saying the British presence constitutes a danger to the Iraqis and the entire Arab nation.

“It added Kuwait should join the United Nations immediately following the complete withdrawal of the British troops and from there the independence of this Arab country (the State of Kuwait) will be final.

“For its part, the State of Kuwait, on June 23, 1961, applied to join the Cairo-based Arab League (AL), but the conditions put up by Cairo in this connection means the request remained pending following the implementation of the conditions and one of the conditions was complete withdrawal of British troops from Kuwait.

“This Egyptian attitude resulted in the then British troops withdrawing from Kuwait. This withdrawal superseded token Arab troops that reflected the political and diplomatic keenness of the Arab nation to protect Kuwait.

“In spite of the above, the acceptance of the Kuwaiti request to join the Arab League, was not so easy, rather the negotiations lasted one month.

“Following this development, the Kuwaiti diplomacy was set up in accordance with the Arab League resolution, in harmony with the targeted hope, far from the reality and inspiring the ambitions for the future, paying no attention to the stiff facts indicating that Kuwait is a small country, without army and threatened by a bigger and stronger neighbor, hence it chose to take care of this threat depending on goodwill and clean conscience.

“Notwithstanding, president Nasser opposed the ambitions of the then Iraqi president Qasim and as such he managed to foil the plot, but it is needless to say Nasser also deprived Kuwait of a security partnership with Britain but remained sincere to the State of Kuwait.

“In this context, we say following the downfall of the regime of Qasim in February 1963 a delegation from the Al-Baath party visited Cairo to discuss unity between Egypt and Iraq and Nasser repeated his keenness towards Kuwait and this was evident when he urged the Iraqi delegation to reach a mutual understanding with the State of Kuwait.

“In this connection, we recall how president Nasser during the ‘unity negotiations’ addressed the then Iraqi foreign minister Sayed Taleb Hussain Shibib saying the Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Sabah is a young and nationalist like you and it would be easy for you to understand him.

“The second Egyptian leader is the former president Hosni Mubarak who has at heart the interests of Kuwait. He adopted an attitude to keep abreast the reality that prevailed during the Tenth Arab Summit held in Cairo in August 1990 to discuss the Iraqi invasion and occupation of the State of Kuwait.

“It is needless to say president Hosni Mubarak successfully managed this summit through vitality of the man who had realized the dimensions of this invasion and occupation by throwing his support in favor of the State of Kuwait.

“Consequently, the Tenth Arab Summit emphasized the right of the State of Kuwait to liberate its territories and accept any kind of assistance that may be given to Kuwait irrespective of the nationality of this help.

“Based on this historical resolution, the historical international coalition participated in the liberation of Kuwait. Given the above, we conclude whereas, president Nasser foiled and frustrated the dreams of Qasim to annex the State of Kuwait, president Hosni Mubarak ended the illusions of Saddam Hussein.

“As a matter of fact, Hosni Mubarak was a friend of the Arab Gulf countries where he explained to us the concepts of Saddam Hussein and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen to use the potentials of the Gulf region to serve their own projects.

“In conclusion, we say Mubarak had maintained the solidarity of Egypt and boosted its regional and international position. We recognize his virtue and believe in his nationalism. We in Kuwait appreciate the two presidents Nasser and Mubarak although Nasser deprived Kuwait from the shelter of the umbrella whereas Hosni Mubarak restored this right to Kuwait.”

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“President Dr Mohammad Al-Munsif Al-Marzouqi is the third president of the Republic of Tunisia who was elected in 2011 and remained president until 2014,” columnist wrote for daily.

“Marzouqi represents a pattern of presidents who we can recall with pride, dignity and an example to be followed. He was elected president in a democratic contest.

“Not just that, he also handed over the reign to his successor in a democratic manner although the latter was his opponent. Not just that, he congratulated the man on his victory.

“Al-Marzouqi is a Tunisian political thinker and opponent of the former Tunisian president Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali. He is also a defender of human rights and holds PhD in medicine.

“As a matter of fact, Al-Marzouqi can be deemed a prominent personality at the Third World level and can be likened to Nelson Mandela.

“He always called for more democracy, freedom and protection of human rights. Al-Marzouqi is the founder president of The Congress Party for Sake of the Republic until Dec 13, 2011 — the date of his election as president of Tunisia.

“Apart from the above, Al-Marzouqi is the former president of the Tunisian League of Human Rights. However, following his loss in the 2014Tunisian presidential elections, he by the end of 2014 founded a movement called ‘The People of Citizens Move’.

“On Dec 20, 2015 he founded the Tunis Will Move Party, and before that he in association with some Arab personalities founded ‘The Arab Council for Defending the Revolutions and Democracy and was its president.

“Meanwhile, we say Al-Marzouqi on June 25, 2015 participated in the Fleet of Freedom No. 3 which left for Gaza Strip in a bid to break the besiege that had been imposed on that part of Palestine by Israel. He with his companions was arrested by the Israeli authorities and whisked away for interrogation.

“However, following the interrogation Israel deported Al-Marzouqi to Paris and from there he returned to Tunisia on July 1, 2015 and was received by hundreds of his supporters.

“On the other hand, the American ‘The Time’ magazine in 2013 chose him as one of the 100 influential personalities in the world. The US Foreign Policy Magazine selected him as one of the best global thinkers of 2012 and 2013. His wife is a French physician and former Tunisian first lady occupied the second rank among these thinkers.

“Al-Marzouqi still leads the campaigns for human rights in addition to his activities as political and social activist as well as a thinker and researcher.”

“Leaders cleaving to distorted ideologies and beliefs are not worthy of emulation — except for those who are also sick in ideology and mentality, lacking serious thoughts just like animals that are easy to manipulate, control and convince with any ideology contradicting nature or destructive activities that violate the tenets of Islam,” wrote for daily.

“The only right ideas that may convince them are the wrong and distorted ideology from those sick people. They live in a special world of darkness with distorted ideology to the extent that they see whoever disagrees with them as unbelievers who deserve the worst possible punishment in the form of killing, maiming or torture.

“Terrorists believe that monstrous acts will bring them close to Allah the Almighty; thus, any society devoid of religion should reform the inadequacies with blood and terror rather than virtue and moderate preaching devoid of violence and intimidation. It behooves countries and their media institutions to wage war against extremist ideologies. They should orientate the youth and pull them from terrorist groups that portend danger to the religion and Muslims.”

“A judicial source posted a comment regarding the ongoing political squabble about the multimillion deposits,” columnist wrote for daily.

“The comment was transparent and pragmatic, as it pointed to lack of laws that eventually lead to injustices. ‘Do not address us in political language, because we don’t understand it. Our duty is to enforce law’, he said.

“I’ve been looking ahead to the comment drawing attention of the Parliament and relevant authorities ever since it was published. The judicial source revealed the root of the problem to be lack of laws to counter the new tricks of corruption. We have seen many cases of public funds misappropriation since the Liberation of Kuwait, while State Audit Bureau continues to present notices against the official establishments in vain. It seems that the power of corruption is greater than every attempt to institute reform!

“He also observed corruption in elections through the vote buying phenomenon, and stated the importance of passing laws to eliminate the problem. Sadly, the recommendations of State Audit Bureau and results of parliamentary investigations do not bring the culprits to book, and cases are usually shelved due to lack of evidences or laws.

“We hope the aforementioned issues will receive appropriate response from the Parliament, especially the Legislative Committee, as it entails serious crimes such as money laundering, misappropriation of public and vote buying, which adversely affect the political life”.

“The massive love and passion that welcomed legendary Kuwaiti artiste Abdulaziz Al-Mefrij (Shadi Al-Khaleej), when he returned to the country from an overseas medical trip, exemplified the fantastic place this wonderful man has in the hearts of young and old Kuwaitis,” wrote for daily.

“This was evident from the faces of people who gave him a grand welcome at the airport. They were singing “Oh Kuwait! We have returned to your safe beaches”. He had composed this national song about half a century ago. Many of the people at the airport were almost 60 years old and had spent their childhood with him. Others were youths who witnessed later part of his shows at Bayan Palace.

“Many of them still remember the feelings of love and beauty that were expressed through his passionate songs in the 1960s and 1970s — the time when this legendary singer had released most of his evergreen songs with which he bombarded our entertainment industry. While we welcomed back this ace singer into the country, we had to sadly bid farewell to some unique patriots in his field — Mohammad Al-Bader, Khalid Al-Shimali and Jameel Al-Sultan. Their demise is a great loss for Kuwait, but that is the will of Allah to whom we all shall return. May Allah grant them Al-Jannah and give their families fortitude to bear the loss.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb