Britain to the Rescue

Through a swirling sandstorm, robed Bedouin sheiks poured in from the desert wastes of Kuwait last week in their two-toned American sedans, sitting on the back seats clutching rifles between their knees. Their bodyguards wore pistols in heavy holsters that sagged down to their knees, and the bullets in the bandoleers had been filed arrow-sharp. Almost all of Kuwait's tiny, 1,600-man army of tough Bedouins roared up to the northern bor der 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 declared itself an independent nation and no longer a protectorate of Great Britain, Iraq had announced it was annexing its oil-rich neighbor.

Claiming somebody else's land is a favorite hobby of the princes and powers around the Persian Gulf, and they do it on the simple theory that their nomadic ancestors once roamed the ground in question. Backward Yemen claims all of the Aden Protectorate, whose border is disputed in turn by Saudi Arabia, which has claims on Muscat and Oman as well. Iran claims Bahrein, and 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, "sole leader" of Iraq, announced during the course of a three-hour tirade that he was bent upon "liberating" Ku wait and returning it to the Iraqi "homeland." Upon hearing the news, Britain prudently dispatched two frigates and the aircraft carrier Bulwark to Kuwait, un loaded 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 Co. (jointly owned by Gulf Oil and British Petroleum), drilling down through Kuwait's sands, hit what proved to be the world's 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. Every child can get a free education, along with a nutritious lunch, and is eligible for college scholarships abroad. In fact, Sheik Abdullah's problem is what to do with all the money. The city of Kuwait is jammed with modern buildings, but many of them are half empty, and highways trail off to dead ends in the desert. Three shrewd old Kuwaiti traders who perch daily on a wooden bench in the old marketplace are together worth about $900 million. 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 "friend ship treaty," with the British guarantee ing Kuwait protection against aggression.

Iraq's claim caught the Arab world by surprise. "We appoint this Sheik [meaning Abdullah himself] governor of the Iraqi district of Kuwait," Karim Kassem brazenly declared. "But at the same time, we warn him not to transgress against the people of Kuwait, who are Iraqis, or we will deal with him most severely, as a mutineer." Kassem promised to give "the liberated people schools, hospitals, and other benefits from our resources," a promise that the well-schooled, well-heeled Kuwaitis greeted with a hoot.

Cheering Bedouins dragged life-sized cloth dummies of Kassem behind their limou sines, round and round the spacious traffic circles in Kuwait City-- a somewhat grisly sight, since dragging to the death was the favorite method of Kassem's street mobs for polishing off enemies during the 1958 revolution.

Camel Roasts. Jordan, Tunisia and Sudan pledged their support of Kuwait's independence, as did both the U.S. and Britain. More surprisingly, Kuwait got the sympathy of Red China, and Russia was cautiously noncommittal--both Communist powers became disillusioned with Kassem recently when he cracked down on the local comrades. Saudi Arabia's King Saud, who last April journeyed to Kuwait to share feasts of roasted camel with the Kuwaiti sheiks, not only declared his support for an independent Kuwait, but rushed troops to his northern border to back up his word. Most severely discomfited was the U.A.R.'s Nasser, who has frequently railed against the oil sheiks as "imperialist lackeys" and hates to see himself outdone at imperialist baiting by his rival Kassem. He came out lamely with a declaration that "any union between Kuwait and Iraq must be based upon a complete free choice of the Arab people." In answer, Baghdad radio laid claim not only to Kuwait but to "the other rings in the chain of Persian Gulf territories"--presumably all the long-disputed lands along the Gulf.

The wider Iraq's ambitions spread, the less plausible they became. Though his propaganda built up to a frenzied pitch, Karim Kassem blandly denied that he had any intention of attacking Kuwait. Since Kassem was on the verge of reaching a new agreement with the Iraq Petroleum Co. about how to share his own country's major source of wealth ($300 million a year), the Kuwait claim served as admirable cover for a deal with the imperialists." So far, it 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 worry. But Kassem is highly unpredictable, and we can afford to take no chances."

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