The shooting was an “isolated incident”: Sheikh Sabah

KUWAIT CITY, November 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A Kuwaiti being questioned for allegedly shooting two U.S. soldiers has told state security that he hated Americans and that he had planned to attack them, a newspaper reported Sunday, November 24.

Khalid Messier Al-Shimmari, a junior police officer arrested in connection with the attack of two U.S. soldiers on a highway south of the capital on Thursday, November 21, has told state security he had “planned for an attack against Americans in Kuwait because he hated them,” Al-Anba said in its Sunday edition.

Shimmari, who had fled to Saudi Arabia after the shooting, had not specifically planned to target the two soldiers but any Americans that came his way, the daily said, quoting sources.

The suspect, expedited to Kuwait late Friday, November 22, after his arrest in the Hafr Al-Batin area in Saudi Arabia, has already been taken to the military hospital, where the two soldiers are being treated, to be identified as their attacker, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the paper as saying.

Shimmari has denied any link to any terrorist organization, the paper also said, adding that his colleagues were unaware of his plans for an attack.

The two soldiers, assigned to the Third Army, were driving along the seventh ring road in a civilian vehicle when they were shot. Their condition has been described as “serious but stable.” Al-Anba said the suspect would be referred to the prosecution in the next two days.

Al-Watan newspaper also quoted sources saying Shimmari had confessed that he went to the seventh ring road looking for foreigners but that he denied any link to any organization.

The idea of attacking foreigners came to him suddenly, Al-Watan said.

The attack was the fourth, and most serious, shooting incident involving U.S. forces here since October 8 when a marine was gunned down by Kuwaiti assailants during war games on Failaka island, 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Kuwait City.

Kuwait condemned the Failaka shooting as a “terrorist” act.

The shooting was an “isolated incident” and does not reflect any security lapses in Kuwait, Kuwaiti First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said in remarks published Sunday.

Thursday’s attack “will not have any adverse impact on relations between the two friendly countries,” Sheikh Sabah told Al-Rai Al-Aam.

Sheikh Sabah, who said that suspect Al-Shimmari will be punished, denied any security defects in the country and considered the attack an “isolated incident” which was the result of personal behavior.

Asked to confirm reports that Shimmari has a history of psychological problems, Sheikh Sabah said: “It is not I who said the shooting was carried out by a mentally disturbed man but his medical records confirm that because there are files including a diagnosis of his condition.”

“These incidents take place everywhere in the world,” Sheikh Sabah told the daily, “and it would be illogical to say Kuwait has security shortages based on that incident.”

Kuwait will continue to be a stable and secure country, he said.

So far “all indications show it was an isolated incident” and not politically motivated, Sheikh Sabah stressed.

“Our friends the Americans share this opinion and the issue is now in the hands of the judiciary,” he added.

Despite the killing last month of a U.S. marine and this week’s attack that left two American soldiers wounded, Kuwaitis generally continue to back U.S. presence on their soil but resent Washington’s policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The attacks on U.S. servicemen here have shocked Kuwaitis, who remain grateful to the country which in 1991 led a coalition that freed them from a seven-month Iraqi occupation.

But the emirate’s unequivocal support for the United States is slowly being undermined by one shooting incident after another, reflecting what would seem like deep resentment on the Kuwaiti street toward Americans.

Not so, say many Kuwaitis, who know that now, more than ever, is not the time to question the near 12-year presence of U.S. forces on their soil.

“There is no contradiction between the government and the people’s stance in Kuwait concerning the importance of relations with the United States and the need for the presence of U.S. forces in Kuwait to deter threats from the Iraqi regime,” said Islamist lawmaker Waleed Al-Tabtabai.

“Kuwaitis, like all Arabs, feel bitter about the U.S. administration’s attitude toward Islamic and Arab causes, especially the cause of Palestine,” he told AFP.

“I don’t think any attempt by the U.S. to improve its image among Arabs and Muslims can succeed if it maintains its blind support for Israel,” said Tabtabai, a leading member of the Salafi movement in Kuwait.

“The Americans have to be here for some time because of the danger posed by Iraq,” said Adhari Al-Khodr, a 27-year-old hospital employee - but “as long as they don't interfere in our lives and our policies”.

“I feel bad about the shootings, the soldiers are innocent and did nothing wrong,” she told AFP. “But the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the main reason feelings are changing,” she underlined.

“U.S. policy in Palestine is a central issue for every Arab and Muslim,” said MP Nasser Al-Sane. “This policy has a direct bearing on what people feel about the U.S. in the region. This is for sure, you can sense it everywhere, from liberals to Islamists, young to old, men to women and in diwaniyas (male meeting places) all over the region.”

Nevertheless, “Kuwaitis still like the U.S. when it comes to the security of Kuwait. This is clear cut,” Sane said.

“I do see resentment” but it is against U.S. policy toward Israel, and not concerning the security of Kuwait, he stressed.

The shootings, which in total have killed one serviceman and seriously injured three others, simply do not reflect Kuwaiti sentiment, nor are any of the attacks justified, Sane said.

It was the fifth shooting incident involving U.S. forces in Kuwait since October 8, when two Kuwaitis killed a marine and wounded another during wargames.

Around 10,000 U.S. troops are currently based in Kuwait, between Camp Doha, 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Kuwait City, and various desert camps in the north of the emirate, which signed a defense pact with the U.S. after it led a coalition that expelled occupying Iraqi troops from the emirate in 1991.  

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