Eight years after the war, when the emir finally proposed a law to give women the vote, Parliament blocked it. But in other ways, the aftermath of the war transformed Kuwait society. The well-established Palestinian community was run out because Yasser Arafat backed Saddam in the war. New immigrants, mostly single men with no stake in Kuwait, have not filled the gap. Morals are declining.
Bureaucratic mentality is the same.
Westerners brought alien values to Kuwait, seducing the youth with provocative music, unseemly fashions and drug addiction, Tabtabai said. During the occupation, he added, Kuwaitis learned they could sweep their own streets, fix their own cars, make their own dinner. Now they have again lost their taste for work, and we have to rely on foreigners in our midst to do everything for us. To cope with 15,000 university graduates a year, officials maintain full employment by creating pointless state jobs. About 94 percent of Kuwaitis work for the government, and salaries absorb half the budget.