Kuwaiti Trainees Told to Promote Rights : Freedom: Quayle issues a warning to military graduates at Ft. Dix. He sees the country playing a leading role in advancing democracy in Arab world.

With the Kuwaiti government nearing its return to power, the Bush Administration gave new Kuwaiti soldiers a pointed warning Tuesday that they must become “champions of human rights and freedom” in the liberated nation.

The warning, which Vice President Dan Quayle issued to Kuwaitis graduating from a military training program at this sprawling Army post, came as concern mounted about a possible Kuwaiti backlash against Palestinians in Kuwait City, many of whom supported Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

At the same time, the Administration remains uneasy about Kuwait’s history of financial support for the Palestine Liberation Organization because of the PLO’s record of terrorist activity.

Providing a stern counterpoint to Kuwaiti elation as liberation nears, the vice president’s speech also served as a grim reminder that Kuwait’s human rights record before the Iraqi invasion on Aug. 2 was spotty.

Quayle “wanted to send a message that Kuwait has not been exemplary in this respect at home,” a senior Administration official said. “We’d expect them to be more responsible in a post-war Middle East.”

Addressing 263 Kuwaitis, including nine women, who completed an eight-day combat training program and were headed Tuesday night for Saudi Arabia, Quayle said: “Where Saddam Hussein has made a mockery of human rights, you must be the champions of human rights and freedom.

“To discourage future Saddams, we need to stand up against the human rights violators, whoever and wherever they are,” the vice president said, as the two companies of trainees, in freshly issued desert camouflage uniforms, stood before him.

“That’s where you come in, as leaders of a liberated Kuwait. You will have a key role to play in creating a new Middle East. It must and it will be a Middle East that is free. Where Saddam Hussein trampled on the rule of law, you must uphold it,” Quayle said.

Later, the vice president said in an interview aboard Air Force Two as he flew back to Washington that his intention was “to let them know how important we feel human rights are and to get upfront some of the principles that are involved in the war.”

“I really feel Kuwait will have the possibility of providing a leading role in the advancement for democratization in the Arab world. We have very little of it right now,” he said.

So far, although Kuwaiti officials have talked about moving toward democracy, the Kuwaiti government has taken few concrete steps in that direction.