Sabah Al-Ahmad challenges geographical curse
A CERTAIN principle in politics considers geography a curse. However, there is a counter principle and it is being established today by the hands of the maker of the future, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad.
Today, we are witnessing his ability to transform the curse into gift and grant through the conference for reconstruction of Iraq. If all goes well, the entire region will be well.
This is due to the fact that regional nations share kinship ties, affinity, history, language and traditions. These are far bigger than crimes perpetrated by some leaders who dragged calamity and woes into their countries, similar to what Saddam Hussein did in 1990.
Today, on the eve of Kuwait’s celebration of its National and Liberation Days, the podium’s theme transforms into reconstruction of the neighboring country. This is exactly similar to what happened in 2003 when it was the gate for redeeming Iraqis from one of the butchers in its history.
Hence, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad’s initiative is the historic transformation point as it establishes a new concept of relations between neighbors, which is based on the fact that several dark political pages in history do not nullify the entire book.
It is possible for such pages to
transform through generations, given that wars neither build countries nor feed nations; or else, it would not have been said in the past that “armies march on their stomachs.”
Indeed, there are secondary issues between Kuwait and Iraq which have yet to be resolved, but such issues cannot overshadow the basis of solutions that can motivate more cooperation and partnership between the two countries.
This can also lead to advance cooperation and partnership with countries bordering Iraq which share similar culture, language and traditions like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
We view this great initiative as the window through which new air will flow to change the souls of some — may it be reconstruction of souls and not stones, because the former makes the building of the latter more robust.
The dark clouds, which hovered over the skies of Iraq, were due to drifting of political forces behind retrogressive, progressive and lure of the authority that blinded the former decision makers from reality and learning from experiences of other nations.
As this was happening, the main drive of Gulf countries, especially Kuwait, was for Iraq to maintain an invincible protective shield internally from oppressive and bloody adventures, and externally from historical greed of the holders of the Persian expansionism scheme which hissed and snarled in 1979 under the euphoria of toppling the Shah.
They assumed that they can harness their Persian desire by inciting sedition under the pretext of injustices perpetrated on a certain sect of the society. It is the same sect which realized from the start that the crows of Mullah regime only want them as fuel for the scheme.
Kuwaitis have never forgotten that their food and water came from Iraq, and it was their route to the Old World. This land, which is rich in farms and water, possesses innovative energies through which its people can make the country a vital economic center in the Arab world.