Sheikh takes Kuwait’s cause to Arab Summit
Pioneer moved by his people’s determination to fight
This is the 15th in a series of articles on His Highness Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Mubarak Al-Sabah (1930-2008), Father Amir, former Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
I— Editor
By Lidia Qattan
Special to the Arab Times
ncidentally the standing of Arafat at the conference and the stand of those countries that sided with Iraq in its invasion of Kuwait plainly revealed how much the Arab world had been divided by Iraqi machination, which shattered the long standing dream of Arab union and solidarity Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah had nurtured from childhood when the first group of Palestinian teachers entered his country and flared his young mind with ideas of Arab nationalism.
Sheikh Saad was then six years old at the time, easily affected by the surging wave of patriotism affecting every young heart. Like most of his companions, he became an ardent supporter of the Palestinian cause and believed in the rebirth of the Arab world. But later, years of experience in the political arena taught him to be more cautious with his feelings and trust only his better judgment after weighing the pros and cons in the unfolding political scenario of the Arabian world.
That evening in Cairo, though thankful to all those noble men who stood in full support of his country’s just cause, Sheikh Saad left the summit heavy hearted. But meeting with the young Kuwaitis outside the building crowding around him to know the result, he was moved by their strong response and determination to fight and do what they had to do to free their land. Proud to be among them, he assured them that everything was being done by the Amir and his government to solve the situation. However, he reminded them that everyone had to work hard and be ready to make sacrifices to force the Iraqi invaders out of their land.
Throughout the months of tension, anxiety and struggle preceding the war of liberation, Sheikh Saad had the moral support of the Amir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad whose wisdom and patience inspired him. He had also the full cooperation and solidarity of all those working with him — the Ministers, high officials and all the men and women contributing to the common cause in the best of their ability.
Freedom
From the first to the last day of the Iraqi occupation the people inside Kuwait fought in a resistance that baffled the invaders. All attempts by the Iraqi Mukhabarat to break their spirit were in vain; because with every fallen martyr many more men, women even children were joining the Resistance, in spite of the atrocious reprisal carried out on those caught by the Mukhabarat to intimidate the population. Indeed anyone suspected, whether a man, a woman, a child or an entire family were arrested and taken to centers of interrogation. There, they were put under all sorts of tortures, physical and mental, from which few survived.
During the invasion there was also the potential danger of muggers and profiteers roaming freely through the land entering any house disguised as Iraqi officers, such people could do as they pleased.
HH Sheikh Saad keeping in constant contact with the Resistance, smuggling in money to enable his people to survive, was helping maintaining their moral high and averting any Iraqi attempt to subdue their spirits.
The documented martyrdom
Lidia Qattan
His tour was instrumental in building the coalition of the 34 countries that participated in the liberation of Kuwait, while fomenting world public opinion in support of the campaign.
Propaganda
At the “People’s Conference” held in Jeddah on Oct 13, the steadfastness of the Kuwaiti people to their government and their determination to free their land at all cost, proved to the world their stern refusal of the Iraqi regime and disclosed the lies of the Iraqi propaganda that got the people of the world believing that Iraq was acting on behalf of the Kuwaiti people against a wicked government.
Crises reveal the true nature of a people. The Iraqi occupation brought the best out of the Kuwaitis: their solidarity, their loyalty to their country and faith in their leader. Of those inside Kuwait, the occupation proved their courage, their heroism, their stamina and daring. Their unshakable loyalty and patriotism baffled the enemy; their ultimate sacrifice and martyrdom won the respect of the world, for they wrote with their blood the most glorious chapter in the history of Kuwait.
Many times, seeing photos of the mangled bodies of men, women, even of seven or ten-yearold children smuggled out by the Resistance, Sheikh Saad wept in anger and pain, beholding the testimony of their martyrdom he felt their agonizing suffering sinking deep in his soul; the suffering he experienced then, together with the worries, the anxieties and the strenuous work of months to set his land free seriously affected his health as revealed later on.
In the wake of the People’s Conference in Jeddah, from Oct 15 (1990), the training of Kuwaiti volunteers began in all earnest, Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah himself took charge of the operation guiding every effort.
To be continued