By Shahad Kamal
KUWAIT, Aug 1 (KUNA) -- The Kuwaiti people still remember the pain and horror felt when the Iraqis invaded their country some 31 years ago.
This event prompted many authors to document such sorrowful historic act, deeming it as vital for future generations.
In various KUNA interviews, the authors stressed that documenting Kuwait's most darkest hours did not come as easy with many of them finding it difficult to process the emotions describing the horrific events of the invasion.
Nasser Salmeen, a retired Colonel of the Kuwaiti army and a POW during the invasion, said that the journey of writing a book about the invasion started as a blog in one of the social media sites.
The memoirs and photos of the 238 days of captivity were collected in the book "Diary of a Kuwaiti in Iraqi prisons -- We will not forget," revealed Salmeen who was encouraged by the positive feedback from families and friends to publish a book about his bitter experience.
"My goal is documenting the invasion for future generations so it would not be forgotten," affirmed Salmeen, adding that what he and others went through, as POWs should be highlighted for others.
Similarly, author Mohammad Jamal published his book "Kuwait and the days of invasion," a testament to the heroism of the Kuwaiti people against their unlawful Iraqi aggressors.
"The book is dedicated to the Kuwaiti resistance and the international community's stance with the rights of Kuwait," Jamal commented on his publication.
He said that he wanted to relate to the world the suffering of the people of Kuwait during the invasion so that no one would forget what had occurred.
Another author, Salah Al-Ghazali, preferred to focus on how Kuwaitis administered the country from within and abroad in his book "Kuwait's fourth protective wall." Despite Iraqis' controlling the entire country through their horrific invasion and occupation, Kuwaitis from within managed to run the country in coordination with the lawful government abroad, revealed Al-Ghazali who was himself a POW.
On writing the book, Al-Ghazali said that he had number of correspondence, reports, and letters from the Kuwaiti resistance digitally saved, adding that the documents contained data displaying civilian and military correspondence amongst Kuwaitis within and their government abroad.
There were struggles in digitizing the documents, indicated the author, revealing that his first mission after the invasion was to travel to Dubai, the UAE, to purchase a computer.
A number of 77 leading figures, from various backgrounds, helped in documenting and publishing the book, Al-Ghazali noted.
On his part, author Major General Hussein Malallah focused his documentation on exposing the crimes of the Iraqi army in his book "Iraq's war criminals during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait." The first portion of the book dealt with international conflicts and means to resolve them within the framework of the UN, Arab League, and Islamic law.
The second part touched on the acts of the Iraqi army, which were in breach of the Geneva humanitarian convention, said the author who commended the Center for Research and Studies on Kuwait (CRSK) for aiding him during researching.
He revealed that there were around 5,000 copies of the book distributed around the world in various languages.
Another author, Dr. Abdulmohsen Al-Kharafi published two books "memoir of a sentry" and "lenses of a sentry" both dedicated to the written and photographic documentation of the Iraqi invasion and the operation desert storm, which led to the liberation of Kuwait.
Dr. Al-Kharafi indicated that it was paramount to document this phase in Kuwait's history, affirming that the events in the books were direct encounters experienced by himself during the invasion and liberation of Kuwait.
Meanwhile, authors such as Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Koos and Kuwait University Professor Dr. Faisal Al-Wazzen chose to focus on the Iraqi invasion via sharing pure historical documentations in their respective books "the encyclopedia of the Kuwait war -- from the invasion until liberation" and "The history of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait." Dr. Al-Koos' book touched on historic papers and documentations condemning the Iraqi invasion, while Dr. Al-Wazzen's book -- published in six volumes -- dealt with events prior and leading to the aggression, the Iraqi invasion period, as well as happenings months after the liberation of Kuwait namely the Iraqi recognition of the borders and independence Kuwait in 1994.
In relation, CRSK plays an important in documenting the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
CRSK Director Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghunaim said that second article Amiri decree 92/178 stipulated that the center was tasked with collecting all documents, publications, and data concerning the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and analyzing the aggression's impact and ramifications.
Al-Gunaim added that the center published various books on the subject, which still engraved in the hearts and minds of the people of Kuwait. (end) shd.gta