American paranoia

Last chance to post something before I'll be pretty much incommunicado for 10 days backpacking around Iran. Time to travel there before the Americans bomb the place... interesting what Seymour Hersh claims in the New Yorker. I guess this is what you'd term running an idea up the flagpole and ensuring that Iran gets the message that if you don't back down on developing nukes we're coming after ya. Of course, Pentagon officials have termed the article full of fabrications, rumours, blah blah, ... but where there's smoke...

After the latest big shootout incident in Kuwait on Saturday, where security forces busted a terrorist cell in Umm Al-Haiman district, I was extremely pissed off to find an event I was going to that evening was cancelled as the American Embassy had notified all their citizens to stay indoors and not go out. Really guys, get a life!! To put this in perspective, the Kuwait Prime Minster can see fit to inspect the site of the terrorist bust, but all American citizens are advised to stay indoors. I wouldn't be surprised if the advice mentioned warm milk and cookies, and cuddling up with their favourite teddybear too.

[I'd really love to just link to relevant Kuwaiti newspaper articles but they don't archive the pages... and I'm getting sick of cutting & pasting, as the formatting in Blogger doesn't work to well when you use quotation marks - can anyone advise me on this one?]

And now it's even safer to venture out. According to today's Arab Times they've let out all the bad cops - is this to put them in the front-line for further terrorist cell busts (where the security forces seem to be coming off second best), use them as informers, or put them back on the beat to waste their days idly sipping tea at the police station? Actually, the latter is kinda like prison anyhow.

Jailed policemen to be freed: Upon instructions of the First Deputy Premier
and Minister of Interior Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Lieutenant-General
Nasser Al-Othman, Undersecretary of the Ministry recently issued a decision to
release all police personnel who are serving time in a military jail, reports a
press release issued by the ministry. The decision is taken on the occasion of
Eid Al-Adha.

Anti-monarchy protests in Saudi

I'm sure there's lots of other country leaders that wish they could do this to anyone that protests against their regime, and get away with it. In today's Arab Times, we get a glimpse of life in the Magic Kingdom next door:

Saudi to jail, lash 15 for anti-monarchy protests

RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi
court has sentenced 15 people, including a woman, to prison terms and lashings
for taking part in an illegal street protest against the royal family, Saudi
media said on Wednesday. Newspapers said the 15 were put on trial for
participating in rare anti-monarchy demonstrations in Jeddah on Dec. 16.
Government officials were unavailable for comment. The demonstrators were given
jail sentences ranging from two to six months and ordered to receive between 100
and 250 lashes apiece, newspapers said. A further six defendants are awaiting
trial in the Jeddah court. The state prosecutor called the sentences too lenient
and said the government would appeal for stiffer punishment.

Me thinks the State Prosecutor would like to see heads roll. Well if you stifle opposition & suppress the people it's going to get worse, a lot worse. And then, before you know it, it's you're head that's rolling, a la Nicolae Ceausescu in Roumania. [insert appropriate proverb...] Why do I get the sense that Al Qaeda appears to be winning this war? No indications in this story that there is a spirit of reform in Saudi... I don't think shwe-shwe (arabic for slowly-slowly) is always the answer.

And we're now up to more than 30 suspects in the Hawalli shoot-out, according to today's Arab Times...

KUWAIT (Agencies): Kuwaiti authorities have detained more than 30 Kuwaiti
and Saudi Islamists for questioning about a deadly shootout this week between
suspected militants and state security forces, security sources said on
Wednesday. "The authorities have arrested at least 30 Islamists, most of whom
are Kuwaiti as well as several Saudis ... for questioning over the shootout," a
security source told Reuters. He said state security officials had previously
questioned most of the detainees over suspected "extremist activity" and that
some of the men had spent time in Afghanistan...

..."The interrogation is ongoing with 30 suspects," the Interior Minister,
Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, told Al-Anba newspaper, after Monday's
gunbattle. The minister did not rule out that the perpetrators of the incident,
a rare occurrence in Kuwait, could be among those detained. The arrests came as
part of a major crackdown by security forces in areas used by suspected Islamist
militants following the gunfight, which triggered a new US warning to its
citizens in the country. Those arrested include the assailants' alleged
ideological mentor, who is a former mosque preacher and a hardline Islamist, a
security source told AFP.

And here's a gem from the paper earlier this week:

2 held for indecent signs: The Mubarak Al-Kabeer police have arrested a Kuwaiti
man, with past criminal records and a compatriot woman for allegedly making
indecent signs at a camera monitoring traffic. The suspects have been referred
to the authorities, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Wow. Big brother is everywhere!

The saga continues - Hawalli 5 O

The newspapers today have various eye-witness accounts of the shootings in Hawalli and naturally none of these tally with the official statements issued by the Ministry of Interior. Did we expect them to? No, of course not. One of the eye-witness accounts seems to indicate that a gunmen stalked and shot three plain-clothes policeman. I guess we'll never know the truth, suffice to say it appears as though the Ministry of Interior "police" stuffed up.

Here's a copy of what appeared in today's Arab Times:

Blood everywhere ... it was over in 5 minutes
KUWAIT CITY: There was blood everywhere and people were fleeing the scene
of the shoot-out in Maidan Hawally, say two men who were at the scene where
three people were killed including two policemen on Monday. While both of them
paint a similar picture of the shoot-out, both of them differ on the actual
sequence of events. "There were loud bangs. At first I thought children were
bursting crackers but when I saw a man holding a gun, I knew something was
wrong," said the first witness to the shooting. The witness who works at a shop
close to the scene and who refused to be identified said he saw two men entering
a shop and asking the address of a car rental shop and as the manager was
explaining them the direction of the shop, a policeman in mufti allegedly opened
fire.The source added that the two men then ducked behind a table and started
returning the fire, saying the gun battle continued for some time and that the
policeman was badly hurt. "The two assailants were also injured and one of them
was lying on the floor in a pool of blood." He said the policeman received three
bullets - two in the chest and one in the abdomen and later succumbed to his
injuries. According to the witness all the policemen were in civilian clothes.He
showed these reporters the spot where the policeman breathed his last, adding he
also saw two more people lying dead in a pool of blood. Bullet marks were also
seen on the ceiling adjacent to the shop with two bullets piercing the glass
door of the car rental shop. A source showed the Arab Times four bullet marks in
the shop where the gun battle took place, two of the bullets pierced the leg of
a computer table while one hit a floor tile. Meanwhile, another eye witness of
the shoot-out Basha, an Indian driver at a neighboring car rental company, said,
"I was making tea in my office, and as I was feeling cold, I went to my car,
parked just outside, to switch on the heater and warm myself."Basha's narration
continued: "That's when a group of men pulled along in a black car and three of
them got out. One of them went to my office, and the other two went to that
office," he said pointing at a glass door in the extreme right of the same
building. The men were asking directions to Caza Rental, which is situated in
the same corridor. "Just then another car pulled up and a man from the car
walked past my car brazenly holding what looked like an automatic rifle. But
since he was wielding it so openly, I thought it must be a toy gun," he said.
But the drama that followed soon after shocked Basha. A flurry of rat-tats made
him look up and he saw the man, who was asking for directions, lying in a pool
of blood right in front of his office. Basha pointed at a hole in the middle of
cobweb-like cracks on the glass door of his office saying that was one of the
many bullets sprayed in the encounter. "Meanwhile," he added, "the other two men
at the far end of the corridor became alert. One of them ran inside the office,
while the other flicked out a gun from his socks and attempted to return fire.
But he was also shot at and subdued." The shooter then hounded the third man,
who was inside the other office, and shot him as well, Basha said. "The whole
incident was over in less than five minutes, and the shooter walked back to his
car and sped away. There was total mayhem. I lay ducked in my car for a while,
not knowing what was happening." If he had not gone to his car, leaving the
water in the kettle to boil, then he too could have been killed, he added
looking calm and composed, narrating the incident alongside washing his car. A
person from his office informed the police, who arrived at the scene within a
few minutes. People crowded shocked by the dramatic turn of events. "The first
man who was shot, I think died on the spot. The other man who was lying at the
end of the corridor seemed to be alive and was struggling for life. I don't know
about the third man." "A team of police made quick enquiries and went to chase
down the getaway car. Soon after that I retired, feeling nauseated and shocked
by the blood that ran down the corridor."

The same paper also has a follow-on story:

Kuwait collars 10
KUWAIT CITY: Security forces Tuesday arrested at least 10 Islamic
extremists, including three persons from one house in Jaber Al-Ali area, when
they conducted raids at several locations all over Kuwait, say sources. Kuwait
securitymen took this action after two policemen and a wanted suspect, who they
were chasing, were killed Monday in a shoot-out in Maidan Hawally. A reliable
security source said, "some key persons, who are suspected to be involved in the
killing of two police officers in Monday's shoot-out, may be among the
arrested."
He said the arrested suspects are being interrogated, adding "security
forces will continue with the raids until all the suspects involved in the
killing of the two policemen are arrested to know their future plans." "The
Interior Ministry is cracking down on suspected militants across the country," a
source told Reuters. He, however, had a lower figure of arrests. "State security
is now holding a minimum of six Kuwaitis, who will be questioned on the
whereabouts of the gunmen who carried out the crime," the source said....

At least 10, minimum of 6, whatever... maybe they should get the Ministry of (dis)Information involved. The Ministry of Interior is doing themselves and the country no favours by not coming clean on what's going on

Putting it into perspective though, safety in Kuwait isn't really a worry. You're still more likely to get bowled crossing a road (or be caught up in a criminal shoot-out in the USA) than being involved in a shoot-out with terrorists in Kuwait.

The dangers of blogging

Another blogger loses his day job over what he wrote in his blog about his boss - this time in the UK. No wonder it pays to stay anonymous. So much good material to write about if I start writing about work - maybe that deserves another anonymous blog...

So after the shoot up in Hawalli the baddies are still at large. The Arab Times newspaper had the following write-up if you missed it:

Officers, gunman killed after US warns Westerners of drive-by shooting
threat
KUWAIT CITY: Two policemen and a wanted suspect they were chasing were
killed Monday in a shootout in a suburb of the capital, the Interior Ministry
and state media said. The suspect, Fawwaz Tlaiq Al-Otaibi, was injured in the
shooting and died of his wounds in the hospital, state television reported.
Al-Otaibi allegedly shot at police chasing him after he entered a shop in the
Hawally suburb of the capital. He was wounded but escaped into a waiting car
with a number of his "colleagues" in it, according to an Interior Ministry
statement quoted by the television station. "One of the suspects in the car"
shot at police as it left the scene killing the two policemen and injuring two
others, it said. Within an hour, the Kuwait News Agency announced that Al-Otaibi
had been arrested. Later the television said he had died. The reports did not
specify what the men were wanted for, nor if any others had been arrested along
with Al-Otaibi. Unconfirmed reports, however, quoted securitymen as saying a
second suspect had been arrested and was in Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital after
being wounded. Interior Minister Sheikh Nawwaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah told state
television he had visited the injured policemen, who were in stable condition at
the hospital. He said Al-Otaibi had entered a car rental shop to return a
vehicle when police attempted to capture him. The minister said Al-Otaibi and
his friends in the car used pistols to shoot at police. "While fleeing, one of
the persons in the vehicle fired at the policemen killing Lieutenant Hamad
Mohammed Al-Ayyobi and Sergeant Ayman Al-Rushoud. Sergeant Bader Al-Methen was
shot in the abdomen while Sergeant Fahd Al-Samhan was shot in the elbow," a
security source told the Arab Times. He also said suspect Al-Otaibi was shot in
the head in the exchange of fire. "All the suspects are known to us and we know
they had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq," the source said. "They are extremists
and we will arrest them within hours." Meanwhile, a medical source at the
Casualty Room in Mubarak Hospital, Hawally, where all the injured were rushed,
said, "we received three persons with gun shot wounds around 7:00pm." "We tried
to resuscitate Al-Otaibi, who was shot in the head, at the ICU. But our attempts
failed and he died," he added."A bullet had penetrated Sergeant Bader
Al-Methane's abdomen from the right side and gone out from the other side. We
operated on him immediately and he is in a stable condition at the ICU," the
source continued. He went on to say, "Sergeant Fahd Al-Samhan, who was shot in
the elbow, was operated on and later rushed to Al-Razi Hospital for further
treatment." Authorities have been cracking down on Islamic militants opposed to
the presence of US forces in Kuwait. The Hawalli incident happened a day after
Kuwait lifted a high security alert imposed two weeks ago. Under the measures,
security personnel in armoured vehicles fanned out in key areas, especially
around vital oil installations and Western embassies.

In another article in the paper, the well-respected reformist Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah, an ex-Minister of Information (before being ousted by an Islamist campaign for allowing controversial and banned books to be sold at a local book fair) and ex-Minister of Oil had the following to say:

Describing the security situation in the country as "fire under ash," Sheikh
Saud said, "sleeper cells are still present in Kuwait. Sadly some of them
are in
the military and security forces. We have been warning of this danger
for many
years and we expect more sleeper cells will be uncovered in the
future."

He's also been qouted in international media recently as well, referring to how Kuwait is being hijacked by Islamist groups - see this and this.

Breaking news

Talk last night from expats & a flurry of embassy warden notices was about a black Nissan Cherry looking for expats to gundown, and a shooting in Hawalli. In this mornings Gulf Daily News:

Two die in Kuwait
KUWAIT: Gunmen killed two state security personnel pursuing them in Kuwait City yesterday, the Interior Ministry said.
Security sources added that one of the suspects, a wanted
Kuwaiti man identified as Fawaz Al Otaibi, died later in hospital of his wounds. Two state security officers were wounded in the shootout.

Will wait to see what the Kuwait papers have...

Keystone cops in Kuwait

This week’s excitement has been the full security alerts, the arrest of several suspected Al Qaeda agents in the security forces and subsequent release of most of them with two remaining to face charges, and the arrest of a journalist who allegedly got his facts wrong. The Arab Times sums it up in yesterday’s paper:

Arabiya correspondent charged, freed on bail; 'Harmed national interest' KUWAIT CITY (AP):

An Al-Arabiya satellite television network correspondent was released
on bail Saturday after prosecutors quizzed him for hours over a disputed report
on an alleged shootout between militants and police, his lawyer said. Adel
Eidan, a Kuwaiti, was detained Wednesday on charges of spreading false news that
harmed national interests following a report about a shootout. The Interior
Ministry denied the report less than half an hour after Al-Arabiya went to air
with it, saying the report was "not true and caused panic." A Kuwait News Agency
(KUNA) journalist and a security official were also detained for investigation
and released on bail. Lawyer Nawwaf Al-Mutairi said Eidan was investigated by
prosecutors and released on 300 dinars ($1,000) bail, but added that his client
could face trial or authorities could close the case. The others detained face
the same charges as Eidan, Al-Mutairi said. The reported shootout came amid
increased security fears in this country, which has recently stationed armed
military and police vehicles at street junctions, near hotels and embassies.
Last month, the US Embassy warned its citizens of possible attacks against them.
Two Kuwaiti military personnel will stand trial in a military court for
allegedly planning to attack "coalition troops," in the country, which is a
major US ally in the Gulf. Al-Mutairi said he hoped security concerns would not
become a "justification for limiting press freedoms." Eidan also had broadcast
the official denial of the shootout, proving "the matter was nothing more than
his getting information from sources he believed were credible," the lawyer said
in a statement…

So it looks like it was a fake report then – poor journalism, not checking sources, etc. Maybe poor journalism deserves imprisonment after all (tongue in cheek). No, no, proper response is for Al-Arabiya to give Eidan his marching orders or, as anyone can make a mistake, give him another chance to make amends for stuffing up.

Shame it’s not a big cover-up – nothing like a good conspiracy theory in this part of the world. The article goes on.

…Al-Mutairi did not say if the KUNA reporter and security official were Eidan's sources, adding the correspondent had no intention to harm Kuwait. Al-Arabiya, which broadcasts from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, condemned the Kuwaiti
government for detaining one of its correspondents. "We respect the law, but the detention of a journalist for investigation instead of talking to him in a more civilized way is saddening," Al-Arabiya General Manager Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashed said after Eidan's release. "It is saddening because it is happening in Kuwait."The US-based Committee to Protect
Journalists had also called for Eidan's release. Kuwait has less press restrictions than other Gulf countries, but its government has the right to close newspaper or TV stations. It shut the
offices of Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station in 2002, accusing it of being biased against Kuwait.First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Saturday announced that the security authorities would not be reluctant in taking the required measures against any person who may try to target the security and stability of the country. In response to questions by journalists on referring the correspondent of Al-Arabiah television station to the public prosecution, Sheikh Nawaf said "We won't be reluctant in taking the proper measures against anyone who broadcasts
false reports that harm Kuwait and its security," stressing that the security of the homeland is the top priority.

Duh, how are journalists harming Kuwait and its security? You’re certainly doing more to harm Kuwait’s reputation by arresting journalists – don’t you get it? Notice the American-speak slipping in there, going on about "security of the homeland." Yawn.

Sheikh Nawaf said the correspondent and a number of persons were bailed out, adding that the judicial authorities would determine possible further action concerning this case. The national security is solid, being safeguarded by the faithful security forces, he said.

… yeah, right, he would have to say that wouldn't he. It’s some of the faithful security forces that that were arrested by police for plotting to commit terrorist acts in the first place.

And finally, Zahed Matar in an Arab Times editorial provides a good summing up over the journalist issue...

Wrong move by the Interior Ministry

Denying a news report doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong. Some denials are true, some are not. The same is the case with news. Some reports are accurate while some maybe wrong. But no reporter purposely files inaccurate news. The Interior Ministry was wrong to stop Adel Al-Eidan, a reporter of Al-Arabiya TV channel from working. Instead it could have denied the report filed by him. We don't want to hear accusations that Al-Eidan was involved in a big conspiracy because these are old tactics.Denying a report published by a reporter is in itself a punishment for the latter. Newspapers and TV channels are reporting news, not registering history. They may retract any news report if they find out it is untrue. It was a wrong move by the Interior Ministry to stop the Al-Arabiya reporter from doing his duty. The ministry should have some other explanation for its action.

The age of no consent

When are you old enough to have control over your own life? Obviously, if you're female and 23 years old that's not old enough and you can never be completely free, as indicated by this article in today's Arab Times.

Missing girl held: Police have 'arrested' a 23-year-old bedoun girl, on whom a missing persons report had been filed by her brother, reports Al-Watan daily. At the time of the arrest the girl was in the company of another bedoun girl and three youths at a camp in Julaia. During interrogation, the girl said one of the youths helped her to escape from her home and had sex with her several times. The 'lovers' have been referred to the Public Prosecution.

I'm not condoning what she did, ie. sex out of wedlock, etc., and obviosuly there is more to the story, but the facts here are that in the Gulf, if you're an unmarried woman, forget any notion of having control over your own life - if you bring shame on your family then they can always resort to getting you punished one way or another. Basic human rights issue here: if you are a 23-year old female in Kuwait, you don't have any freedom or the right to make your own mistakes.

That's a real mindset change from where, and when, I grew up... I left school and was pretty much independent at 16, even if I did choose to board at home for a few years to save money, to then leave home proper and attend University in another city. At 16, my wife (to be) spent a year away from her home as an exchange student... a different world.

Kuwait information minister resigns

I guess we'll hear all about it in Kuwait's press tomorrow...

Kuwait information minister resigns
(Reuters) 2 January 2005

KUWAIT - Kuwait’s Information Minister Mohammad Abulhasan, who is due to face public questioning in parliament, resigned on Sunday, the state news agency KUNA said.
Abulhasan handed in his resignation to Prime Minister
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, KUNA said without giving details.
Abulhasan was scheduled to be questioned on Monday by some Islamist MPs over several allegations including negligence of social values after he approved music concerts in the Gulf Arab state, seen by Islamists as violating sharia law.

Another win to the Islamists. No parties on New Years eve - soon to be no parties full-stop.