British” 6

ident Steve Ramzi :

in Iraq and has family
. He's alsa lived in
Lebannon and Syria in the Mid-
_ dle: East, He wrote this as a
background to the situation in
frag and Kuwait. '

< There are now many experts °

-but few authorities on Kuwaiti
_ ‘history. History-is distorted by
the: winner because it is always
cwritten by the winner.
«: In-ATLO two. families moved
from Saudi. Arabia to southern
Traq.- because of terrible
‘droughis"SThey found fresh
water and tivers and settled at
the.Iraqi city of Basrah.
“Iraqi people and the govern-_

ment.under.the Turkish empire.

“allowed to them to live there,
but not to claim land and they
agreed,
, Some of them
what is now Kuwait, then an

Iraqi area under the Turkish Ot-
toman empire.

Turks as much as the Saudis did
and;they asked for British help
and.protection. This was refus-
ed atifirst because the land was
Iraqi and under Turk control. _

In-1898 Imperial Russia took
action to establish a naval base
on the Persian Gulf (it’s still a
dream of the Russians) so the
British stepped in to balance the
Russian power. -

’ Tribes in Kuwait fought each
other because some didn’t want
to separate from Iraq but the

‘Alsabah family with British.
arms won and took control of

the area. a

_ The‘family Alsabah and Bri-
tain signed a treaty in 1899 giv-
ing the British right of trade in

the region in return for protec: 4 arab countries but the oil is

tion. This blocked the Russians
and the Turks. So

? Later Saudi Arabia helped
_split‘Kuwait from Iraq and the
Arabs helped the British defeat
the Turks~ (the famous
Lawrence of Arabia conn
tion). -

. The autonomy of. the Arab
lands . was, prom v
igh” bint “they and ‘Praiice
decided’ to create small ‘coun-
tries‘to weaken the Arabs by
dividing them.

_ In ‘April 1921 Winston Chur-
chill decided who should be the
King of Iraq but the British,
Iraq; Kuwait and Saudi Arabia
failed in 4922 to establish
borders.

The people of Iraq and
Kuwait were outraged because
they. didn’t want a separate
land: But. the British and
Alsabah family divided the
country and created what they

found water in.

¢ Kuwaiti: tribes hated the

promised by the.

called neutral zones, You can
see them on any map. |.
' To be honest, the Saudi Ara-

‘bian’ royal family’ killed hun-

dreds of Kuwatis and. took 40
per cent.of their lands. a

But in that time the fraqi peo- ‘*
- ple killed the king appointed by f

the British in their famous 14 of
July 1958:revolution. © 7

] personally remember; that
day. [ saw the king dead and be-
ing pulled by his neck by a rope
in a Bagtidad street. ©

I remember I had a small -
stone and tried to throw it at his ©

body, but my mother stopped

me, saying we had to respect the --

dead even if they are traitors. -
" Our president, Abdul Kariem

“Kassem, tried to take over .

Kuwait in, 1961 but the British
stopped him. Iraq entered
Kuwait in 1969 but left under
the condition of Kuwait respec-
ting the borders and not stealing
Iraqi oil. ;
. But when the Iran-Iragi war

started in 1980, Kuwait helped 4.
Iran, their common enemy —
the Persians. And Kuwait.

started to steal Iraqi oil by pum-

ping it from disputed border’

areas,

Iraqi president Saddam Hus-
sein warned the Kuwaitis and
asked the Saudis and the U.N.
but nothing was done to stop
ihe Kuwaiti royal family from
stealing Iraqi pil and be reduc-

ing the price of oil to further

weaken the Iraqi economy.
_ That's why Iraq took back its

» part-of Kuwait after 150 years

of dispute. Kuwait had taken
Iraq lands and started to play
the dirty game of politics. They

didn’t even have a defence trea-__

ty with the United States.
‘The crisis could be resolved

The crisis could be resolved

AL.

by Arab countries but the oil is -

the life blood.in the American
politicians’ arteries, The US in-
terest is well known, the British
interest is well known, adding to
that the Israeli hatred toward
Iraq. _ . co.

President George Bush's

yah dag okt

the Phillipines and then got rid
of him, helped the Panamanian
government of Noriega and
then got rid of him and helped
Saddam Hussein.and now-want:

leo ow hase oper proved Fo surstyes

When the Iran-lraqi: war started in | 1980, Kuwait
helped Iran, their common enemy — the Persians. .

And Kuwait started to steal Iraqi oil by pumping it
from disputed border areas. = =

scenario is wrong, no blood
should be spilled over oil. The
Americans -helped the Shah of
Iran and then got rid of him,
helped the dictator Marcos of

to get rid of him.”

When
learn? What is this Mafia-style
of politics. Is it because Iraq has

the means to develop nuclear

NORTHYEMEN, /~ SOU

UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES

TH YEMEN

technology? oo

How about the 156 nuclear
bombs in Israel? Who doesn’t
anybody say anything about
Jsraeli nuclear technology? svc

t

dea

billion Muslims want.
*~ Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq,
Kuwait, the PLO, Jordan and
Egypt all have to be part of the
peace talks to settle the problem
in a parallel way, The linkage of
Israel is very logical but the US
and Israel don’t like to see that.

My mother used to tell me:

_ “Listen, son, If Jesus Christ
will © the” Americans”

couldn’t make it in the Middle
East, nobody will and nobody
cant till God wills it.”

I pray for peace.

%,

* Bandar Abbas

i

CANADA'S 24 CF-18 fighter aircraft in the Persian Gulf are now fly-
ing escort missions for those allied planes engaged in the bombing
of Kuwait and Iraq. They were originally sent to protect the three
Canadian ships in the Gulf.

Am

Lop rt

oe

Wa pe Bae

bird

orest

— In what.one per-
son hoped was the beginning of
“a brand new world,” forest
service personnel and more than
50 members of the public began
thrashing out Jan. 17 a plan for
logging and other activity in an
area south of Terrace.

“We're . trying to become
more accessible (and) identify
‘more resources beyond. the
trees,” Kalum Forest District
manager Brian Downie explain-
ed in opening the meeting.
‘Over: the. next four hours,
those present gave views which
were often highly critical of past
forest management policies.
Noting the forest service list

iH of objectives included enhance-

ment. of fish, Andrew Scruton
suggested any logging detracted
from their habitat.

". He presumed there would be
no further logging in the area.

:. Environment ministry conser-.

_vation officer. Kathy Stuart

“| pointed out protection and

enhancement of fish habitat
could not proceed until an in-
ventory had been taken to
establish which waterways were
‘fish-bearing. © = =

“The management plan, she

an inventory of streams took
lace: a *, : . ao
Fishing guide and one-time

he asked:

That view was echoed by the

ee

-orest service tack

dded, could include aban on —
logging in areas suspected to -
have high: fisheries’ values until

jogger’ Bruce Hill said: the:

. — higher than

peal: Steelhead” Society

eA oe an eet reg eg einer t

spokesman Rob Brown, He
called for restoration of the area
and for no more logging.

Brown also wanted replanting
of logged stream banks,
stabilizing or closing of poorly
built roads, elimination of slash
burning and herbicide use and
retention of migratory corridors
for wildlife.

B.C, Wildlife Federation
spokesman Gil- Payne pointed
out the forest service’s informa-
tion sheet failed to adequately
recognize the extensive use of
the area by local hunters.

He also suggested West
Fraser’s recent purchase of Tay-
M's cutting rights in the north
Kalum. area meant they no
longer: needed to log in the

Lakelse drainage (West Fraser-
Skeena Sawmills hold a forest
licence in the area which expires
in the year 2000).

Noting the forest service's
commitment to retain old
growth forests over 12 per cent
of the area, Grant Hazelwood
suggested that should be regard-
ed as the absolute minimum and
it should aim for more.

Lakelse resident Kelly Kline
urged planners to prevent soil
erosion and protect wildlife
habitat, both vital to maintain-
ing the recreational popularity
of Lakelse Lake. -

Kitimat Cross-Country Ski
Club representative Gerry
Bloomer said his group wanted
to see 500m wide, treed strips

Planning given a

TERRACE — Despite the

cynicism and frustration evident
in some of the comments
following a Jan, 17 meeting on
how to log an area south of the

city; a forest service consultant,

says he’s pleased with what took
places 0:02. BE a!

crit jooks like: they're”
a to. give this. thi

(planning process) a shot," Jim
Culp sald of discussions on the

Thunderbird area which . runs

south and to the weat of the air-
Hired by the forest service to

co-ordinate the public consulta-.
_ tion: process; Culp said he was:

‘encouraged by both the turnout ©
¥ expected —- and.
“the kind of dialogue that took

He suggested forest service
personnel at the meeting had
left an impression of flexibility
and a willingness to listen.

Culp said submissions from
this session will:.be added to
those received at earlier
meetings .with:,various interest
groups. ‘Out of that we will be
“able to see where the main em-

phases are. coming from,” he

explained, adding it was already
_ clear. the fishery, wildlife and
‘recreation. were areas “OF par-
‘ieular coricern. rh re

Suk

“Based. onthe. above; he will
put’ together ‘several : different
scenarios for’ future manage-

ment of the area for discussion.

at a Feb,:28 meting,

_ “That meeting would likely seb:

les ‘‘new world” |

left at the south end of the lake
ta allow extension of the present
Onion Lake trail system into
“the back-country.”’ :

In addition to calling for the
creation of four woodlots in the
ares, woodlot association presi-
dent Lars Rees-Hansen sug-
gested formation of a manage-
ment board for the Thunderbird
to include representatives of all
groups with an interest in the
area.

Noting such community-
based boards had been sug-
gested by the provincial forest.
resource commission, planning
group chairman Norm Parry
said the forest service agreed
there should be a vehicle for
continued public comment,

chance |

" participants divided into several

small groups which would con-.
sider the options and bring back
their recommendations, He em-
phasized, however, those op-
-tions were. intended only as .a
framework for discussion and

could beamended.
“At that .point,' work could
begin on developing an overall
Strategy for the arca.:. fos
Noting :the process to date
had managed to avoid the con-:
frontations which: had:‘In; the

portunity to

planing.

is done. in the whole

that could lead the way.on how’

ae teete tel aie tebe Labrisk 25 tad ery ore wt
= : tats -

t

rent
mer