A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, January 11, 2010

Kuwait/Jordan Feud Over "Saddam Street"

UPDATED: As noted by a commenter, the decision has been rescinded.

I'm going to be a bit busy today but let's start the week off with a manufactured crisis: Kuwaiti Parliamentarians are up in arms because the Jordanian city of Karak has decided to name a street after Saddam Hussein.

Well, I guess Karak can forget about any direct Kuwaiti development grants anytime soon, but I'm not sure some kind of boycott of Jordan is appropriate because some provincial city council votes to name a street for a dead foreign leader. On the other hand, I get the Kuwaiti sensitivities too. But Kuwait's free and Saddam's dead, and every week or so I drive on Jefferson Davis Highway in Northern Virginia, and on [Robert E.] Lee Highway even more often. Both men fought against the US government, and only one had the redeeming element of being Virginian. Let bygones be bygones. Then again, 1991 may not be all that bygone a time.

1 comment:

LJ Marczak said...

AlKarak has decided not to name a street after the former President of Iraq.

Reports are that the central government intervened.