The Kuwaitis are choking. And not only due to smoke billowing from the 450 or so oil wells still ablaze. Two months after liberation, it’s getting harder to swallow the promises of Kuwaiti leaders–from rebuilding the ravaged infrastructure to making progress in political reform. Since his return from exile, Emir Jabir al-Ahmad al-Sabah has grudgingly entertained the idea of “a new Kuwait.” The old Kuwait is only now emerging from ruins-thanks largely to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers–and the new is yet to be born.
So far, all the emir has offered is a fuzzy pledge to hold parliamentary elections “during the coming year, God willing.” Kuwait’s nascent opposition-ranging from Pan-Arabists and Shiites to merchants and Western-leaning moderates–has been pushing for a reopening of the Parliament dissolved by the emir in 1986. Instead they got a cosmetic cabinet shuffle. The emir removed three unpopular ministers but left his family, rulers since 1756, controlling most key posts. Particularly galling was the promotion of Sheik Salem al-Sabah–who squelched pro-democracy rallies in 1989 to deputy prime minister. Dissidents who called a press conference last week to denounce the cabinet were blocked by the minister of information. Arriving in Kuwait City the same day for talks with the emir and the crown prince, Secretary of State James Baker voiced American displeasure with the emir’s reluctance to reform his system. “What I said was that the ability of the United States to continue to support Kuwait politically and from a security standpoint … would be enhanced if they evidenced full respect and commitment to the preservation of human rights,” Baker told reporters.
The Bush administration was further shaken by a recent Amnesty International report that called on the emir “to intervene personally to end the wave of arbitrary arrests, torture and killings in the country since the withdrawal of Iraqi forces.” The human-rights group cataloged the misery of at least 600 people, mostly Palestinians, who had been detained and beaten, subjected to electric shock and burning with cigarettes and acid, or threatened by sexual assault and execution. The emir and crown prince expressed concern but said they were unable to control the thousands of gun-toting vigilantes. “Every Kuwaiti citizen is armed to the teeth,” said a Baker aide. “It’s a real problem, and they are still trying to figure out how to deal with it.”
The al-Sabah family can’t even keep its own house in order. Documents unearthed by Thames Television’s “This Week,” Britain’s version of “60 Minutes,” chronicle the licentiousness of the emir’s entourage, members of the royal family and hangers-on, from 1985 to 1989. The accounts–written by Lt. Maj. Fahd Youssef Saoud al-Sabah, an intelligence and security officer in the Amiri Guard Brigade–tell of delegates who frequented casinos and drank until they passed out; an official who surrounded himself with women at a hotel pool in Mali, “flirting with one, slapping the other on the backside” in public view, and a sheik who arrived at Dasman Palace in Kuwait, “swearing repeatedly” and threatening to “murder His Highness the Ruling Prince.”
Last August White House aides joked about sending U.S. troops to keep the world safe for feudalism. Today the laughter has a nervous edge. “We’re embarrassed by what’s going on,” says a senior administration official. “But we believe we must grit our teeth and wait.” American leverage is limited: Kuwait is still a rich country. But the al-Sabahs remain frightened of Saddam Hussein–and fearful that America might not come so quickly to the rescue next time. That was the implicit warning Baker gave last week. Did the emir hear?
title: “With Friends Like These” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-29” author: “Regina Foster”
And allies of Democratic congressional leaders are fuming that Clinton seemed unenthusiastic about their offer to help launch an aggressive legislative agenda for the fall. “We offered him greater cooperation than Dukakis ever got, and he said, ‘We’ll get back to you’,” says one Hill insider.
title: “With Friends Like These” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Ron Perez”
The Thomasons have gone from being lauded as FOBs (Friends of Bill) to a symbol of the follies that have plagued Clinton’s presidency. What happened? The rules changed with Clinton’s election, and the Thomasons haven’t yet made the transition. Intervening on behalf of your buddies to help out with airplane charters might be overlooked when you’re working for candidate Clinton, but not for President Clinton. And when you get to the White House, you’re supposed to live the populist images that look so good on the big screen. White House aides cringed as the Thomasons took to the airwaves last week with a too-rich-to-care defense. “We make a six-figure salary weekly,” Linda said on “Good Morning America.” “And I think it would be pretty ludicrous for my husband, who makes six figures a week . . . to rub his hands gleefully together and to say, ‘Ooh, I’m going to, like, take my six-figure salary a week and fly off to Washington and see if I can’t get those seven little guys out of that travel office in the White House.’ It’s sort of the equivalent of taking over a lemonade stand.” That’s not exactly the language of the heartland.
No fooling:For Harry and Linda, who would do anything for Bill and Hillary, the suggestion that they are behaving selfishly sends them into orbit. Harry is a warm bear of a man, mindful of his working-class roots. He doesn’t understand how clearing up his own reputation-or flashing his White House pass-can make Clinton look bad. “He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t smoke. We don’t fool around on each other,” Linda said in her husband’s defense on ABC. A former schoolteacher from Missouri who rides trains and Greyhound buses cross-country because she’s afraid to fly, Linda wanted to go on television “to show people that we don’t have horns.” The Thomasons defied the advice of White House aides who argued that each appearance only perpetuated the story that wouldn’t die. It was the Thomasons who originally introduced the Clintons to Beverly Hills hairdresser Cristophe, whose coddling of the First Locks added a Fall of Rome air to the White House’s troubles. Harry’s investigation of the travel office exploded into open warfare with the press as Linda derided the Washington media as “these graffiti writers.”
Washington is a town that loves to chew up newcomers. Just a few months ago the Thomasons were celebrated for their closeness to the Clintons. Now they’re raked over in editorials as just another example of cronyism. In Hollywood, Thomason creates the scenes. He thought he could do the same in Washington. But the presidency is not as easy to manipulate as a sitcom, or as the images on the campaign trail. When the couple came to the capital, they soon found themselves inexorably linked with every Hollywood celebrity who came to town, proclaimed as the president’s gateway to the stars.
In fact, the Thomasons have never really been Hollywood insiders. “Hollywood people don’t even like them,” says a White House aide. “They consider them schlock TV.” Like the Clintons, the Thomasons came from nowhere to make it big. Harry’s hometown of Hampton, Ark. (population: 838), made Hope look like a metropolis, and the couple still prefers Arkansas to California. During the campaign last year the Thomasons were “the two most vociferous people” warning Clinton to keep his distance from the beautiful people, according to friends. It was only when they became beautiful people themselves that they got into trouble.
Does Bill Clinton care about people like you? (Percent saying yes)
CURRENT 4/22/93 55% 65% NEWSWEEK Poll, May 26-27, 1993
