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Where they stand on Iraq: Kuwait
If the United States goes to war against Iraq, who can it count on as a friend and who will line up as a foe? This week, CNN takes a look at five key countries and where they stand. KuwaitIraqi President Saddam Hussein has apologized for invading Kuwait in 1990 -- an apology Kuwaiti officials bluntly rejected. "We apologize to you," Saddam said in a statement read by Information Minister Mohammad Said al-Sahhafa on Iraqi TV. "What we wish for you is what we wish for your brothers in Iraq -- to live free from foreign rule and intervention in your wealth and future." He urged Kuwait "to remain free and faithful by not allying yourself with the aggressors," and warned Kuwaitis that the United States would "steal your wealth and turn you into slaves working for them and turn your leaders into local agents for American oil companies." Kuwait's information minister, Sheik Ahmed al-Fahed al-Sabah, said the statement merely repeated Iraq's previous excuses for invading the emirate. "We believe the apology should be addressed first to the Iraqi people, who are being repressed," he said. Saddam's forces invaded Kuwait in August 1990, claiming it as Baghdad's 19th province and sparking a crisis that led to the Persian Gulf War in January 1991. A U.S.-led coalition pushed Iraqi troops out of Kuwait in March 1991. Ahmed called on Iraq to respect Kuwait's independence and borders and to account for Kuwaiti prisoners missing since the end of the war. Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops are in Kuwait for military exercises with Kuwaiti forces and they have been the target of a series of shooting incidents since late October that left one U.S. Marine dead.
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