Q: Britain is planning to reduce its forces in Iraq and hand over control to Iraqi security forces. Is Kuwait concerned about what will happen across the border?

The concern is there. Our greatest concern is that we are witnessing the killing of a hundred people every day in our neighbour Iraq. But when you think of the rest of the country - whether they will remain in Iraq or leave, travel to other countries. They will seek refuge in other countries.

How many will be going? What will be influence on countries that receive them? It is not because countries will not be able to feed them. No, it is the situation they will be putting themselves in as refugees.

Anyhow, we hope that there is new thinking. The British policy of withdrawing their forces (from Basra) to the airport, would be a good policy for the Americans to adopt too. They should redeploy their forces outside the cities and leave the daily control of affairs in Iraqi cities to the Iraqis themselves. If they need the help of American forces, they will be able to seek their assistance.

Q: Are you not concerned about security in the Basra area?

Do you think that they are handing it to somebody else outside the region? The authority will be handed to the Iraqis. Let's remember what happened at beginning of liberation of Iraq by American forces. If there was right-thinking policy they would not have reached the situation that we now have. Mistakes have been committed, which led us to the situation we now face. The first mistake committed was to go into Iraq and dissolve the army and police forces. Who will protect the country? Who knows the country better than these forces? Whether all the armies were from the Baath Party? This is the first mistake that was committed. I do not want to enter into their internal affairs, but our feeling was that this was a big mistake.

Q: How dangerous would it be if America withdrew completely, if it disengaged from Iraq as many Americans want?

We should consider Iraq's interests first. A sudden and complete withdrawal would not be in Iraq's interests. But surely the redeployment is to the benefit of the Iraqis. They (the Americans) should leave the cities and allow the Iraqis to conduct their own administration. They will handle their own business by themselves. The Americans should not interfere in internal affairs and politics of Iraq.

Q: So the British plan to withdraw from Basra city is a good idea?

I believe it is a reasonable step.

Q: How worried are you about the rise of Iran's influence in the region?

It would not be correct to say that we are not concerned. Iran is a strong country. No one will deny the strength of Iran. It is a country with millions of people. It has plenty of weapons of all kinds. Now it is a factor in the political affairs of Iraq, because they are neighbours and because they belong to the same sect - Shiism. But we hope that the Iranians will feel their responsibility towards peace in the region. Maybe they will feel that they are victorious now. But this victory may not continue. They are in a much bigger region, an Arabic region. Even the Shias, most of them do not follow Iran - they are Arabs first.

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