Words on the Gulf

“The United States now faces a critical foreign policy choice: It can support a democratic impulse in Kuwait, represented by a well-established local opposition, or an authoritarian impulse, represented by some elements of the ruling family. If we choose democracy, as we should, we must be careful to allow Kuwait’s liberal impulse to develop according to its own mandate. We must be careful, however, not to try to create our idea of a democratic opposition or throw our support behind any particular bloc. In the Third World, American support for real opposition groups is the kiss of death to those groups. We should simply take care not to discourage dissent, and then leave.”

-- JILL CRYSTAL, author of “Oil and Politics in the Gulf” (Cambridge)