Former Kuwaiti Minister Ahmad Al-Ruba'i: Iraq Was Destroyed by Arabs, Not by U.S.

The following are excerpts from an interview with former Kuwaiti minister, Ahmad Al-Ruba’i. ANB TV aired this interview on February 3, 2005:

Ahmed Al-Ruba'i: Some people present the situation as though the Americans are the ones who sit down at the table, and dictate to us… leading us like sheep to the slaughter.

Interviewer: But it was the US that entered Iraq and occupied it…

Ahmed Al-Ruba'i: The one who destroyed Iraq was an Iraqi. It was an Arab and Muslim Iraqi ruler who destroyed Iraq, exiled its people, forcing a third of the Iraqis to live abroad. People were thrown into jails and into detention and death camps. Yet some portray things as though the Iraqi problem started with the Americans. Iraq's problems started with us, with an Arab Muslim ruler who wreaked corruption upon the land.

Now they are getting involved in Sudan's affairs, not because the Americans want to get involved in Sudan's affairs, but because there is a real problem in Sudan. We, the Arabs, sat on the sidelines and watched what was going on in Darfour, while two million people died in the Sudanese civil war. None of us dedicated the slightest thought to resolving the Sudanese problem. But the moment the Americans arrive in Sudan, all of a sudden Sudan became important. It is time we extricated ourselves from this dangerous vicious cycle.