Kuwaiti Prisoners in Cuba

• I came across a website, by coincidence, that is dedicated to the Kuwaiti prisoners in GITMO. If you are interested, God Forbid, click here to access the site.
• Kuwait University advertised its scholarship offerings in July. Just in case you missed it here is a re-run. Scholarhsips advertised include Medicine, Business, and the Languages Center. Click here to access the advertisements.
• An interesting country study published by the Library of Congress. Looks at politics, economy, society, etc. in Kuwait. Very interesting!
  

Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait- 15 Years Later

The 2nd of August marks the passage of 15 years since Iraq invaded Kuwait (note: it is not an anniversary as most are wrongly writing.) Despite political attempts to convert the Iraqi invasion into a "Saddam" invasion, many Kuwaities remember with sadness and anger the events that unfolded 15 years ago. Sadness again covers the skies of a free Kuwait today for the passing away of one of the liberation war heroes in King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.
Despite the loss, it is gratifying to see a tyrant like Saddam weak and broken, and waiting for a death sentence. Following are before and after pictures of Saddam, once hailed as the champion of all Arabs. So we don't forget:

Above: Saddam the great warrior and champion of all Arabs and Muslims

Above: Saddam the criminal as he sits in court- Which Saddam do you prefer?!

Most Powerful Women in the World

Forbes magazine recently released its list of the 100 Most Powerful Women, headed by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Two Arab women made the list, with one being Saudi's Lubna Olayan at #97, and the other from Jordan at #80.

On the homefront, Forbes released a parallel list of Middle Eastern Women to Watch that featured former Kuwait University President Dr. Faiza Al-Khorafi, Head of Corporate Banking at NBK Shaikha Al-Bahar, and Founder, Vice Chair and Managing Director of Global Investment House Maha Al-Ghunaim.

Health Impact of 1990 Iraqi Invasion - Harvard Study & Kuwait's FIFA World Ranking

Local media have recently picked up on the results of Phase I of Harvard's study on the public health impact of the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Basically, results showed that individuals who stayed in Kuwait during the ordeal are much more likely to suffer in terms of health. For more detailed results in English, CLICK HERE. For a brief summary in Arabic (PDF), CLICK HERE. The poor local media are focusing on whether the study intruded on privacy rights of patients, instead of examining the results, and elaborating on them. How typical!

Note: The study was conducted after the Kuwaiti government solicited the services of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) three years ago.

Note II: My brother was chosen as a sample in the study, and we were visited at home by representatives of HSPH (a man and a woman who were both Egyptian) who asked him to sign participation documents. However, they never showed up again! Maybe they realized that Kuwait was not the perfect place for research incorporating house-visits!

And please, keep the conspiracy theories at bay! This is not yet another Western conspiracy against Islam. It is merly a study that Kuwait will shove in the face of the UN to get compensation for environmental and health damages that resulted from the invasion of 1990.

Torched oil wells in Kuwait

In other news, the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking released today showed Kuwait improving one position to 55th overall! This puts us ahead of the likes of China, Australia, Oman, Latvia, Wales, Algeria, and Scotland! Kuwait's next World Cup Qualifying opponent Uzbekistan also jumped one position to 53rd overall. Brazil retained its top spot.

FIFA: Kuwait improved from June 5th to July 5th despite June 8th quadruple by South Korea!

Mihai Stoichita New Kuwait Coach

Finally, Kuwait Football Assoiation hired Romanian Mihai Stoichita to coach its national football (soccer) team. The one year deal is believed to be worth between $300, 000 and $460, 000. Stoichita's first task is to earn one point from the away match at Uzbekistan to qualify for a two-legged play-off against Bahrain in the World Cup Qualifiers.
The winner of that play-off shall then play another two-legged play-off against the 4th ranked team from the CONCACAF region (currently Guatemala with 5 matches to go), and the winner qualifies to the World Cup Finals in 2006.
Stoichita's faces a tough uphill climb as Uzbekistan has not lost at home in World Cup Qualifying matches since February of 2004. Kuwait ranks 56th in the current FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, while Uzbekistan ranks 54th.