The second of August 1990 was not an ordinary day. Instead, it was a day when betrayal and treachery were manifested in their worst forms. On that day, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, represented by the Iraqi regime, severed the ties of brotherhood. The Iraqi army invaded Kuwait in the dirtiest crime of the twentieth century. A crime that surpassed the Arab Nakba, represented in the occupation of Palestine and the establishment of the Zionist state. The occupier of Palestine is a known enemy, the Zionist enemy, but the invasion of Kuwait came from an Arab and a Muslim. Since that day, the Arab-Arab divide began to grow, and we entered into a series of concessions to the enemies that began with the 1991 Madrid Conference, which resulted in the 1993 Oslo Accords. Zionist barbarism in the occupied territories was exacerbated by the growing Arab rift that resulted from the support of a number of Arab regimes with the Iraqi regime. And the reward is from the same class as deeds, for God, the Blessed and Exalted, took revenge on everyone who stood with the oppressor.
On the domestic level, the Iraqi invasion had devastating effects on the Kuwaiti people and the Kuwaiti environment. Among those effects are the psychological consequences that occurred due to the heinous crimes committed by the Iraqi occupation forces. Imagine how the psyche of the mother or wife and children, whose father was killed before their eyes, is. How dare anyone ask them to forget this crime?!
The crimes of the Iraqi army have extended even to the environment and animals, and we all remember how the day of Kuwait went into absolute darkness due to the burning of 732 oil wells in the largest environmental crime in history.
We will not forget the pious sons and daughters of Kuwait who were captured by the occupation, and we will not forget the abuse they were subjected to. As those of them who emerged unharmed from captivity said, it is not possible for any person who has an iota of faith or human feeling in his heart to do what the brutal Iraqi occupation did.
But we learned valuable and constructive lessons from the invasion. During the terrible Iraqi assault, there was a peak in national solidarity. This is a warning to anyone who seeks to divide Kuwaitis. The largest criminal of the century was unable to split the Kuwaiti people or turn them against their rulers, thus "both you and your efforts failed."
One of the most significant advantages of the invasion was that it revealed the Kuwaiti people's capacity to govern daily life with tremendous competence. This is what drives us to insist that the government rely on Kuwaiti youth, since if given the chance, they will innovate.
We shall never forget those who stood by us and supported us, as well as those who stabbed us in the back. As a Kuwaiti, I will continue to teach my kids and grandkids that August 2, 1990, was a day of betrayal and treachery. We'll never forget it.
