France: Kuwaiti emir warns against US Iraq pullout

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A US pullout from Iraq would prompt a civil war with worldwide repercussions, the emir of neighboring Kuwait warned in an interview with a French newspaper published Thursday. "In the current circumstances, an American withdrawal (from Iraq) would in no way help bring back stability," Kuwait's Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who is currently on a state visit to France on his first trip to Europe as ruler, told the daily Le Figaro. "On the contrary, the situation would get worse, and we would experience a civil war of great intensity that the whole world would pay the price for," he said. His country would be among those to suffer from such a civil war, he added. He urged US forces to pull out of Iraqi cities and occupy their periphery instead, a proposal he said he has frequently discussed with US President George W. Bush.