From: anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed)
Subject: Re: Putting words into my mouth?
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 13:45:22 GMT

In article <3678@copper.Denver.Colorado.EDU> aaldoubo@copper.denver.colorado.edu (Anisa Alnoor Aldoubosh) writes:
>In article <Btv9Iu.C31.2@cs.cmu.edu> anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed) writes:
>>In article<3662@copper.Denver.Colorado.EDU>aaldoubo@copper.denver.colorado.edu (Anisa Alnoor Aldoubosh) writes:
>>
>>>I am only stating the injustices
>and dehumanization on the Palestinians by Kuwaitis after the War,
>which you continue to deny because of your pride and arrogance.
>>
>>I am willing to take the rest to e-mail, but I can't let this pass.
>
>Okay.  And I won't either :)
> 
>>I defy you to find anywhere I have denied what happened to 
>>Palestinians after the Gulf war.
>
>You are defying me now!  :-)  :)  Do you admit to the
>injustice of expelling so many hundreds of thousands of
>innocent Palestinians after the War?  Do you admit to the
>executions of Palestinian journalists after the War?  Or
>to being denied final wages?

I do and have admitted to the expelling of hundreds of thousand 
of  Palestinians. I do admit to the extrajudicial executions
of several score of Palestinians by vigilantes.  Finally,
last I heard the government had changed its policy on final 
wages and compensation.  Perhaps this has been reversed again?


>
>Do you think your government was justified in doing so?

Since the government wasn't directly responsible for the vigilante
killings, and took steps to control and finally stop it, I think
you've misattributed the post-liberation attacks.

The government was not morally justified in expelling the Palestinians.
However, one must consider the pragmatics of the situation.  As
I've discussed with several people via e-mail, Kuwaiti bitterness
toward Palestinians was/is very strong.  Even among the most rational
people.  Even among those who stayed behind during the occupation, 
as a good number of my family did.  As I was mentioning to someone else,
I had a (Kuwaiti) friend who was an extremely dedicated supporter of
the Palestinian cause.  He and his mother would send money, care packages,
etc..  Now, he has lost whatever drive he had to work for this cause, 
and is a little bitter about the whole experience.  Similiarly for a
man I recently who was a principal of a school largely attended by 
Palestinians.  This is not to say the whole population is turned 
against Palestinians, but a majority have enough bitterness that
the situation would've been unmanagable.  

Under these circumstances, there was really no alternative to a massive 
reduction in the Palestinian population.  Certainly they should be 
compensated for losses, but mostly by Iraqi compensation under the terms 
of the cease fire.  The Kuwaiti government should allow accounts to
be closed out and final wages to be collected, something, as I said,
hadn't been done initially but the policy was possibly being reversed.

Perhaps after a few years, fences can be mended between the general
Kuwaiti population and Palestinians.


>
>Anisa
>

-- 
Anwar Mohammed                           Graduate Student
anwar+@cs.cmu.edu  (NeXTmail welcome)    School of Computer Science
Voice: +1 412 268 3043                   Carnegie-Mellon University
Fax:   +1 412 681 5739                   Pittsburgh, PA  15213-3890
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