Yahoo.com(9.5.05)
Kuwait said it was offering 500 million dollars in oil products to victims of the devastating hurricane in the United States, the latest contribution from rich Gulf Arab states to the relief effort.
"We, Kuwaitis, feel it is our duty to stand by our friends to alleviate this humanitarian tragedy and express our gratitude for the support extended to us by Washington throughout the distinguished ties between the two friendly nations," Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah told the official KUNA news agency.
Speaking after the weekly cabinet session, he said the 500 million dollars would come in the form of "oil products needed by the afflicted states in these conditions and other humanitarian assistance."
Oil-rich Kuwait is a staunch ally of the United States, which in 1991 led an international coalition to liberate the emirate from seven months of Iraqi occupation ordered by Saddam Hussein.
Kuwait also served as a launchpad for the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 that toppled the regime of the former Iraqi leader.
Some 15,000 US troops are stationed in Kuwait, which is also used as a transit point for coalition forces moving in and out of Iraq.
Sheikh Ahmad expressed "the sympathy of the Kuwaiti leadership and people with the American people for the natural catastrophe that hit the United States."
"This gives us the opportunity to show our gratitude to our friends and allies who stood by us in the darkest times ... They supported us with the blood of their sons," he said.
The Gulf Arab state of Qatar, another close US ally which hosted the forward command headquarters that ran the Iraq war, announced Saturday it will donate 100 million dollars to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Predictably, newspapers in Doha Sunday hailed the "generous" donation of gas-rich Qatar, with the daily Ash-Sharq opining that it would have "positive echoes in Western circles."
But Islamist radicals who use the Internet to air their views thought otherwise.
"Is Qatar entitled to give away our riches to those who kill our brothers in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan?," fumed one blogger who called himself "Abu Kamal" on an Islamist website.
Bahrain on Sunday said it will donate five million dollars.
Three other Arab countries -- Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates -- have also offered aid in various forms to the United States.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, said on Monday it was prepared to increase its oil production to make up for supply losses caused by Hurricane Katrina.
"Saudi Arabia is ready to increase its production to compensate for any lowering in supplies of crude on the international oil market," said Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi.
The hurricane wreaked devastation on the three southern states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama and caused thousands of deaths.
A US-based risk management company that specialises in disaster recovery said that the damage caused by the storm in Louisiana and Mississippi is likely to surpass 100 billion dollars.
*************************************
I'll be sending a note of appreciation -
Kuwait Embassies and Offices (bottom of page)
