Kuwait's Cleanup

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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-encourag ed 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.