Kuwait News, Kuwait Weather and Links ( Kuwaiti News and Kuwaiti Weather )
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Britain oversaw foreign relations and defense for the ruling Kuwaiti AL-SABAH dynasty from 1899 until independence in 1961. Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on 2 August 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led, UN coalition began a ground assault on 23 February 1991 that liberated Kuwait in four days. Kuwait spent more than $5 billion to repair oil infrastructure damaged during 1990-91. -- The CIA World Factbook: Kuwait Area of Kuwait: 17,820 sq km slightly smaller than New Jersey Population of Kuwait: 2,257,549 July 2004 estimate Languages of Kuwait: Arabic official, English widely spoken Kuwait Capital: Kuwait
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TIME Magazine, July 7, 1961, p. 19-20: Britain to the Rescue [Last week] almost all of Kuwait's tiny, 1,600-man army of tough Bedouins roared up to the northern border with Iraq in British-built armored cars, thoroughly alarmed at reports that Iraq was massing tanks just across the border. Only six days after Kuwait had declared itself an independent nation and no longer a protectorate of Great Britain, Iraq had announced it was annexing its oil-rich neighbor... Iraq's rulers have always coveted the desert sheikdom of Kuwait, currently the richest country per acre and per capita in the Middle East. But nobody ever took the claim seriously until General Abdul Karim Kassem, the "sole leader" of Iraq, announced during the course of a three-hour long tirade that he was bent upon "liberating" Kuwait and returning it to the Iraqi "homeland". Upon hearing the news, Britain dispatched two frigates and the aircraft carrier Bulwark to Kuwait, unloaded Centurion tanks and 600 Marine commandos. Sea of Oil. Both Britain and Iraq had their minds on oil. Connecticut-sized Kuwait sits on a sea of it-- a quarter of the world's proven reserves and half again the U.S. reserves-- though the British did not know that back in 1899, when the ruling Sheik asked them to take Kuwait under their protective wing. The motive at the time was to stop the pro-German Ottoman Empire from expanding southward along the Gulf. But in 1938, the Kuwait Oil Company (jointly owned by Gulf Oil and British Petroleum), drilling down through Kuwait's sands, hit what proved to be the biggest pool. Kuwait now sells $500 million worth of petroleum a year, supplies 37.5% of the British market. With such cash behind him, the scraggly-bearded Sheik, Sir Abdullah as Salim as Sabah, 66, has had no trouble building a welfare state. All of Kuwait's 320,000 inhabitants get free medical care, and many of them own squat new concrete houses... Sheik Abdullah obligingly keeps about a billion dollars in London banks, thus giving great support to the British pound. Britain had no objection when Kuwait chose to declare its independence. The two countries signed a "friendship treaty," with the British guaranteeing Kuwait protection against agression... Jordan, Tunisia, and Sudan pledged their support of Kuwait's independence, as did both the U.S. and Britain... Saudi Arabia's King Saud... not only declared his support for an independent Kuwait, but rushed troops to his northern border to back up his word... Though his propaganda built up to a frenzied pitch, Karim Kassem blandly denied that he had any intention of attacking Kuwait... So far [the "annexation"] had cost not a penny or a life, and could serve as a popular rallying cry for months or years to come. But as a precaution, the British alerted 8,000 troops in Kenya, Aden, and Bahrein. "If we were dealing with a more rational man," said one British official, "we wouldn't have to worry. But Kassem is highly unpredictable, and we can afford to take no chances." |
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