Kuwait City, Dec 14: Kuwait today rejected a first-ever Iraqi "apology" for its 1990 invasion and questioned how far it could trust its former occupier, which had pledged to work towards reconciliation at an Arab summit earlier this year. "How can we trust this regime and establish good neighbourly relations with it when it is based on aggression against its people, its neigbours and the rest of the world?" first deputy premier and foreign minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told MPs.
"A correct apology is an honest self-examination, and confessing the truth and admitting an ugly crime," said Sheikh Sabah, who was speaking during a special session of Parliament to discuss last week's message from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the Kuwaiti people.
A true confession "aims at sowing the seeds of confidence and good intention," Sheikh Sabah said. "He who talks about turning a new page should first reconsider the previous pages."
Sheikh Sabah was referring to the Arab summit in Beirut in March at which Baghdad and Kuwait signed a landmark agreement towards mending ties, severed since Iraq's seven-month occupation of the emirate.
The deal, which formed part of the final resolutions of the summit, said Iraq's respect for Kuwait's sovereignty would prevent a recurrence of the invasion which sparked the 1991 Gulf War.
Sheikh Sabah told the Kuwaiti press following the summit that the official media would adopt a different, toned down strategy concerning Iraq. Bureau Report