Confident Kuwaitis wait for downfall of their arch-enemy

Kuwaitis were calm and resigned to war, expressing relief at what they hoped was the beginning of the end for Saddam Hussein.

Streets in Kuwait City were mostly empty as people began the Islamic weekend at home and in front of the television, tracking the news of US air strikes on Baghdad.

At a bakery in Yarmouk district, a long queue snaked across the pavement, the bread in short supply as people stocked up. Those waiting said they believed Kuwait was better prepared and better defended than when Iraq invaded in 1990, and said they would try to carry on as normal.

"With all the soldiers standing on the border, I don't think anything will happen to us," retired social worker Salman al-Baqsami said, "unless Saddam uses chemicals."

Joining the growing bread queue, Aarif Jad Ahmad added, "God is good, and we hope nothing will happen to us. We are not scared - if we were scared we would have left."

In a coffee shop in Mubarakia souk, men reclined on sofas smoking water pipes and watching television.

As US President George W. Bush filled the screen, telling his nation that the war on Iraq had begun, a burst of applause filled the room.

"Bush is a real man," Ahmad Hussein Ahmad said, fiddling with his prayer beads. "His dad liberated Kuwait, and now the son will liberate Iraq."

Others disagreed. Frustrated by the food queues and nervous about what could lie ahead, Tarek Abd al-Rahman was angry that the US was interfering in the Gulf.

"America has turned the world upside down. Is the situation in Kuwait good? Everybody is afraid."

But many Kuwaitis say that while they fear attacks, they have been waiting for Saddam's downfall since allied forces put an end to the seven-month Iraqi occupation which began on August 2, 1990.

While that invasion took Kuwaitis by surprise, this time they have had plenty of warning of war.

Thousands of US and British troops have been preparing to attack in the northern Kuwait desert, giving Kuwaitis time to get used to the idea that Washington was set for war.

Schools across Kuwait City have been designated shelters in case of air raids, stocked with food and water and staffed by volunteers trained in first aid.

At the girls' secondary school in al-Fayha district, the hall which is ready to receive up to 500 people was empty yesterday except for a few volunteers glued to the television.

Walid Bouhamra, who teaches chemical engineering at Kuwait University, said many Kuwaitis felt Iraq was weaker than it was in the last Gulf war and expected the conflict to be quick.

"I heard the news and came to report to my volunteer centre, and I realised that everyone was just going about their daily business," he said, standing in a stockroom packed with blankets, rubbish bags and water jugs. "That was a big surprise to me. It's a surprise that people at this stage seem to have overcome that feeling of fear."

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq