March 3, 2005: Kuwait had thousands of foreigners in its armed forces in 1990, when Iraq invaded. Some of the foreigners proved disloyal. So after Kuwait was liberated in 1991, the armed forces were rebuilt using Kuwaitis only. Well, not quite. The reason there were foreigners in the army in the first place was because not enough Kuwaitis were willing to be in the armed forces. That changed after 1991, but then it slid back to the old ways during the 1990s. So Kuwait began allowing, without much fanfare, Saudi Arabian men to join. There is a lot of unemployment in Saudi Arabia, and the Kuwaitis pay well. But now some of those Saudi soldiers have been found dabbling in Islamic radicalism.
| Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? |
So the Kuwaitis are going to have a purge, and get rid of most, if not all, of the Saudi troops. Some Kuwaitis have also been forced out of the army, when background checks revealed Islamic radical activities. The Kuwaitis believe that Iraq is much less of a threat now, with elections and all that going on up there. Letting the Kuwaiti armed forces shrink is acceptable if the people who are in uniform are reliable.
| I understand Fijians are reasonably priced. If you own an ax grindery, never hire somebody with an ax to grind. And if youo've got something worth stealing, don't hire a thief. |
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