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Nathaniel and CASI,
Indirectly relevant to this research (and a bit of good news) is the following, which ran today on Reuters and which explicitly quotes Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
Best to all,
Drew
===
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters03-20-051957.asp?reg=MIDEAST
Kuwait to welcome Arab call to end Iraq sanctions
BEIRUT, March 20 - Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah said on Tuesday his country would welcome a call at next week's Arab summit to lift U.N. economic sanctions imposed on Iraq for its 1990 invasion of the country.
''I believe this item will be called for by the participants at the summit and that it would not face any objection,'' he said when asked if Kuwait would vote for lifting punitive economic sanctions during the March 27-28 Arab summit in Amman.
''The summit might take a decision to call for lifting economic sanctions imposed on Iraq. Kuwait would welcome that,'' he added after meeting Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
It was the first official Kuwaiti position announced ahead of the Arab summit, which is expected to have the Iraq trade embargo at the top of its agenda.
Sabah, who is on an Arab tour, said in Cairo on Monday that there was no question of turning the page with Iraq until Baghdad apologised for its 1990 invasion, released prisoners of war Kuwait says it holds and returned ''stolen property.''
The United Nations imposed sanctions on Iraq immediately after its invasion of the oil-rich country. A U.S.-led alliance that included several Arab countries expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait in the 1991 Gulf War.
Kuwait has said before it supported an easing of the suffering faced by the ordinary Iraqis because of the sanctions.
But it has argued that its neighbour must implement all U.N. 1990-1991 Gulf crisis resolutions. It stresses that Iraq, and its alleged weapons of mass destruction, still pose a threat to the oil-rich region.
Sabah stressed the embargo was a U.N. decision.
''It (imposing of sanctions) is not a Kuwaiti decision, it is a U.N. one. I am sorry that it is being always said that Kuwait is the cause,'' he said.
''I say that Kuwait has no objection to the launching of a call to lift the economic sanctions from Iraq,'' he added.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said on Tuesday there would be no reconciliation with Kuwait at the Arab summit and reiterated Baghdad's demand that the summit call for the lifting of U.N. sanctions.
-----Original Message-----
From: Nathaniel Hurd
To: CASI
Sent: 3/20/2001 3:25 PM
Subject: Information Request: al-Rai al-Aam Newspaper (Kuwait)
On 21 January 2001, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai al-Aam published a
front-page editorial (1) that, according to Reuters, said sanctions hurt
Iraqi civilians, strengthened the Iraqi leadership and should be lifted
(2).
According to an advertisement, al-Rai al-Aam is jointly Kuwait's most
widely circulated daily (3).
1. What ties (if any) does al-Rai al-Aam have to the Kuwaiti
Government?
A) Does the Kuwaiti Government directly or indirectly own it?
B) Does the publisher, Dar Al-Jazeerah Press, Printing and Publishing
Company, W.L.L., have links to the Kuwaiti Government and/or Kuwaiti
royal family?
2. Does al-Rai al-Aam coverage predominantly reflect official
government positions?
3. Reuters referred to the paper's "rare front-page editorial."
A) Does al-Rai al-Aam rarely write editorials? Or, does the paper
regularly write editorials, but only rarely print them on the front
page?
B) Do al-Rai al-Aam editorials, front page or other, primarily reflect
Kuwaiti government official positions?
1. http://www.alraialaam.com/21-01-2001/homepage.htm and
http://www.alraialaam.com/21-01-2001/frontpage.htm#01
2. Reuters, "Kuwait welcomes a call to lift UN sanctions on Iraq," 22
January 2001
http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/2001/msg00070.html
3. http://www.alraialaam.com/advt.htm