[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S4850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE IMPORTANCE OF THE U.S. RELATIONSHIP WITH KUWAIT

  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. President, I rise on an issue of great importance 
to me, personally, and I believe many other Members of the Senate.
  Winston Churchill once noted that nations whose sons fight and die 
together forever change their relationship. Seven years ago, the United 
States and Kuwait tragically shared this experience. The liberation of 
Kuwait forever changed the relationships between our two peoples. 
Though our cultures and the faiths of many are different, we share a 
sense of national independence and, I believe, a growing awareness of a 
burgeoning potential for democracy in Kuwait.
  It was, therefore, extremely disturbing on November 19, 1997, when 
several members of the Islamic faction in Parliament in Kuwait sought 
the ouster of the Minister of Information, Sheikh Saud Al-Nasir Al-
Sabah. It did so because of an allegation that he permitted books to be 
displayed at a book fair which fundamentalists deemed to be offensive. 
Members of this Senate--indeed, many people in the administration--not 
only know Sheikh Saud Al-Nasir Al-Sabah well, they consider him a 
friend. During the darkest days of the invasion and occupation of 
Kuwait, he was the voice of that Nation in the United States. We 
trusted him. More, perhaps, than anyone we know in Kuwaiti society, he 
rallied support to the liberation of his country.
  These allegations against him we now recognize were little more than 
an effort by Islamic fundamentalists to extend their control over the 
Ministry of Information, which would have changed the nature of the 
political system in Kuwait. Judgments about Kuwait's future are for the 
Kuwaiti people, obviously, and entirely. But I believe as friends of 
that Nation who have fought and died with them, we all have a stake in 
the growing movement of that society for free expression.
  I know my colleagues join me with some relief and considerable pride 
in that in a reformed Government following this incident, Sheikh Saud 
Al-Nasir Al-Sabah was kept as Oil Minister. Indeed, not only did he 
remain in the Government, therefore, but he received a promotion.
  I know the people of Kuwait have been traumatized by this effort, 
through this emergence of Islamic factions within their political 
system, to extend their control and threaten rising elements of 
democracy in their society. I trust that Kuwaiti democracy will be the 
stronger for this experience, that the people of Kuwait will not only 
understand but appreciate the interests of the U.S. Senate in the 
political system of that country, since the concept of the government 
and free expression in Kuwait is so much a part of our mutual 
understanding for the defense of that society.
  I yield the floor.

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