From the Gallery Comes a Kiss for American Flag

In a gesture of gratitude at Christmas, a Kuwaiti kissed an American flag in the public gallery of the Gulf state’s parliament in Kuwait City and lit a candle to convey holiday greetings to the American people.

Parliamentary guards later asked the man, in his mid-30s, to leave the chamber where legislators were in session. Officials said he had brought the Stars and Stripes with him to the open gallery. His name was not immediately available.

Some ordinary Kuwaitis and officials in the oil-rich Arab state, conscious of debts owed to Americans for their liberation from Iraqi occupation in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, have expressed concern that Kuwait’s support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism has been questioned in some American media.