US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT4455

UNCLAS KUWAIT 004455 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, IZ, KU, KUWAIT-IRAQ RELATIONS 
SUBJECT: KUWAITIS MAKE SUPPORTIVE STATEMENTS ON REFERENDUM; 
VISITING IRAQI SHI'A CLERIC PRAISES KUWAIT SUPPORT OF NEW 
IRAQ 
 
REF: KUWAIT 3498 
 
1.  (U) Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber 
Al-Sabah, in remarks to the opening session of the National 
Assembly October 17, congratulated the Iraqi people on the 
Iraqi Constitution.  The Kuwaiti Council of Ministers 
released a similar statement of support after its Sunday 
meeting.  Before the vote, a senior MFA official briefed the 
press on Kuwait's support for continuing political process in 
Iraq, manifested by the referendum. 
 
2.  (U) Visiting Iraqi Shi'a cleric Al-Sayed Riyad Al-Hakim, 
son of Ayatollah Al-Sayed Mohammed Saeed Al-Hakim, said that 
Kuwait is a model for the Arab world for its constructive 
dealings with Iraq. As reported in an English-language Daily 
Star on October 17, Al-Hakim explained that "Kuwaitis are the 
only Arabs who understand closely the suffering of the Iraqi 
people." Meanwhile, some Arab countries have played a 
negative role since the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime by 
promoting divisions among the Iraqi people, he asserted. 
Al-Hakim, on his first public visit to Kuwait, voiced 
gratitude for Kuwait's donations to the victims of the Bridge 
of the Imams stampede (reftel) and the official support of 
the Iraqi electoral process.  Al-Hakim commented that Kuwait 
set a positive example which should be followed by other Arab 
nations as it will lead to greater stability in Iraq and the 
region. 
 
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LEBARON