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                                                                                WORLD, Page 26

KUWAIT

Kuwait's Cleanup


One year later, the country has been almost completely rebuilt,
but the psychological scars will take much longer to heal

By DEAN FISCHER/KUWAIT CITY


    Gleaming new Chryslers and Mitsubishis fill the remodeled
showroom of Bader al-Mulla and Bros. But upstairs the executive
offices are still a charred shambles, torched by fleeing Iraqi
troops 11 months ago. Anwar al-Mulla, on holiday in Europe when
Iraq invaded Kuwait, returned at war's end to join his brothers
in the monumental rebuilding task. Iraqis had seized 3,500
al-Mulla automobiles; the company's losses from fire and theft
totaled $230 million. Al-Mulla's house, which served as the
headquarters of Saddam Hussein's occupation overseer, was also
devastated. His sole consolation: "They left the silverware and
took the stainless steel."

    These days, the al-Mullas' future looks bright: the demand
for new automobiles is outstripping the supply, and that is
perhaps the most visible sign that the consumer society of the
Persian Gulf city-state has been restored to prosperity. The
pace of reconstruction has been stunningly rapid. Essential
services have been resumed; most government buildings have been
repaired; ports have reopened. The debris-and-body-choked
"Highway of Death" leading north toward Iraq has been cleared
and opened to civilian traffic. Supermarket shelves are
restocked with imported gourmet delicacies, and shops sell the
latest fashions.

    Kuwait's five-star hotels were targeted for destruction by
Iraq's defeated army; now most are back in business. The eighth
floor of the 406-room International Hotel was set aflame, but
employees prevented the fire from engulfing the building.
Hermann Simon, the Austrian general manager of the
International, hands out Iraqi cartridge shells as souvenirs.
"Only an Iraqi burns a hotel from the top," he says. "That's why
we are still in business."

    Schools and hospitals are functioning, although teachers
and nurses are in short supply. The Iraqis stripped hospitals
of medical equipment, but most of it has been replaced. Kuwaiti
allegations that Iraqi soldiers killed premature babies by
throwing them out of incubators may have been exaggerated, but
doctors insist that an incubator shortage did cause the death
of some newborns.

    The last of the 647 oil-well fires ignited by the Iraqis
was extinguished in November, months ahead of schedule. Kuwait
is producing 500,000 bbl. of oil a day, well on the way to
matching its prewar quota of 1.5 million bbl. Vast lakes of
spilled petroleum remain to be drained from the desert sands,
but the Kuwait Oil Co. is already pumping 35,000 bbl. daily from
those lakes. The blackened skies over the city have cleared, and
the air is cleansed of acrid smoke.

    Kuwait paid the final installment of its $16.5 billion
Desert Storm debt to the U.S. in December, relying partly on the
country's Fund for Future Generations. Nevertheless, the Emir
Sheik Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah ordered the government to write
off $5 billion in consumer debts and assume responsibility for
an additional $25 billion owed by commercial banks. Despite
these obligations, a $5 billion reconstruction loan sought last
fall was oversubscribed by a consortium of international banks.

    If rebuilding is well advanced, the country's psychic
rehabilitation has barely begun. The seven-month occupation left
deep scars that will take years to heal. Iraqi soldiers tortured
or brutalized an estimated 15,000 Kuwaitis, including more than
1,000 female victims of rape, who are considered unmarriageable
or pariahs by a conservative Islamic society. According to a
government-authorized medical study, 350 Kuwaitis died during
their imprisonment, usually after gruesome torture. Limbs were
broken, eyes gouged out, ears and genitals cut off. In one case,
a man was half immersed in a vat of acid. Men were killed by
bullets, women by hanging, and victims of both sexes were
executed by ax.

    Thousands of Kuwaiti children suffered severe stress. A
United Nations Children's Fund survey of those ages 5 to 13 in
one neighborhood found that 62% showed signs of traumatic
shock. Teenagers were disoriented by the violence. Since the
war, knife fights have erupted in schools, drug use is mounting,
burglaries and vandalism have increased. Near a fashionable
seaside shopping mall, teenage boys on motorcycles harass girls,
and others race in flashy sports cars. Some of these youths were
among the 400,000 Kuwaitis who left the country during the
occupation and lived a life of ease in European and Arab
capitals. Their re-entry into a restrictive society has
disrupted the social fabric.

    Kuwaitis who stayed put developed a measure of
self-reliance that enabled them to survive the ordeal of
occupation. "We became inventive, we learned new skills, we took
out garbage," says one woman. Not surprisingly, the
stay-at-homes resent those who fled. "When we saw Kuwaitis
coming back with their Cartier watches and their FREE KUWAIT T
shirts," added the woman, "we got angry." The clash of cultures
has gradually diminished, but ill feelings linger.

    The vigilante justice meted out by Kuwaiti resistance
fighters against Palestinians suspected of collaboration with
the enemy ended after a few weeks, leaving an estimated 100
Palestinians dead. But of the 300,000 Palestinian workers in the
country before the Iraqi invasion, only about 30,000 remain.
Most fled the government-encouraged atmosphere of fear and
intimidation.

    Sheik Jaber is not only determined to punish his enemies;
he is also reluctant to trust his friends. Egypt and Syria
offered to lend ground troops as a deterrent against the threat
of future Iraqi aggression in exchange for billions of dollars
in economic aid. But Kuwait wants no Arab soldiers stationed on
its soil. Instead, the Kuwaitis are almost totally reliant on
the U.S. for protection. They had hoped American troops would
stay, but have contented themselves with a 10-year security
agreement allowing the U.S. to maintain weapons and conduct
military exercises in Kuwait.

    This dependence on the U.S. has made Sheik Jaber more
responsive to quiet American diplomacy pushing for democracy.
Even opponents of the regime believe the Emir is sincere in
proposing an election for a new parliament next October, though
the most vocal advocates still cannot agree on whether to open
the voting franchise, now limited to 65,000 Kuwaiti men, to
women and others.

    But few believe the Emir's cautious reforms are enough to
ensure Kuwait's future stability. The country's leaders are
listening to good advice, says former Plan ning Minister
Sulaiman Mutawa, but it is imperative that they take the
initiative in directing youthful energies into national
development projects. The postwar period has given Kuwaitis an
opportunity to be admired for political enlightenment as well
as envied for their immense wealth. The country has done well
at restoring its luxurious way of life, but internal tensions
and external threats could yet impede full recovery.