Sunday, Jan 10, 2010
Gulf News
Manama Kuwaiti members of parliament (MPs) said yesterday they would call on their government to freeze ties with Jordan if the controversial issue of naming a street in a Jordanian town after former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain was not settled.
The lawmakers, who will issue a communiqué today, said they were scandalised by the decision taken by authorities in the city of Al Karak, 250 kilometres south of Amman, the capital.
"The MPs are pained by the move to pay tribute to Saddam Hussain despite the atrocities he committed in Kuwait during the occupation," the Kuwaiti daily Al Rai yesterday quoted an unnamed parliamentarian as saying.
Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait in August 1990, but were driven out in February 1991 by a US-led coalition comprising several countries.
"The MPs are also surprised that the Jordanian government did not issue a communiqué stating its stance on the issue and whether it had endorsed it [the decision], particularly as relations between Kuwait and Amman have been steadily improving," the source told the newspaper.
"The silence of the Jordanian government towards such a provocative move is puzzling to the people of Kuwait, who believe that it is not right to pay tribute to Saddam Hussain, who occupied Kuwait for seven months.
"Jordan is a country that is supposed to respect the feelings and emotions of the Kuwaitis, who are keen on bolstering relations with the Jordanians."
According to the paper, several MPs will press the Kuwaiti government to suspend relations with Jordan in case Amman does not clarify its stand on the issue.
But Tehran Times quoting Press TV said a number of Jordanian lawmakers also protested the "provocative" move and described it as a diplomatic gaffe.
Kuwaiti bloggers and online readers were divided.
Most condemned the decision and said it hurt the feelings of Kuwaitis and was an insult to the people who died during the occupation.
"This is happening when we thought we had put the past behind us and that we are moving forward together in greater harmony. Nations need one another and should progress together," one reader wrote.
Sovereign country
However, some comments insisted that Jordan was a sovereign country and that it could take its own decisions, including that of allowing an Israeli embassy in Amman.
"We have to face the facts: To Kuwaitis, Saddam is a villain and a criminal, but to some Jordanians, he may be a hero," one of the comments read.
In Iraq too lawmakers and politicians condemned the Jordanian move as "inciting sedition" against the Iraqi nation, Tehran Times reported quoting Press TV.
The move was censured by the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which called for restraint in relations with Jordan.
By Habib Toumi
Gulf News 2010. All rights reserved.
