CULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnROBERT HUSSEIN, a Kuwaiti citizen,rnmay be wishing for another Iraqirnoccupation. After converting to Christianity,rnHussein was put on trial for apostasyrnin an Islamic court, which quicklvrnfound him guilty. Although Kuwait’srnconstitution guarantees freedom of religion,rnit imposes no penalty on a Muslimrnwho kills a man found guilty of apostaswrnWhile Hussein still has the ostensiblernright to practice his religion openly, hernfears for his life and has gone into hidingrnin Kuwait. It is not in the interests of thernNew World Order to investigate casesrnlike this too closely, for Hussein’s casernand many others suggest that in liberatedrnKuwait some creeds are more equalrnthan others.rnI lussein has found a champion in thernRutherford Institute, which has publicizedrnhis stor}- and asked both Secretaryrnof State Warren Christopher and AmirrnShaikh Jabar Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah to dornsomething to save him. “I fear for my lifernand the lives of more than 1,000 otherrnChristians in Kuwait,” Hussein told thernRutherford Institute, an internationalrnlegal organization that seeks to protectrnreligious freedom. Hussein finds littlerncomfort in promises from Kuwait’s embassyrnin America that his life is safe, sincernKuwait’s constitution declares open seasonrnon apostates.rnIt may be small comfort to Husseinrnand other Christians in Kuwait, but thernnew Kuwaiti regime has been just asrnzealous in persecuting other religiousrnminorities as in punishing Christians.rnAccording to a Human Rights Watchrnreport published earlier this year, thernKuwaiti government has repeatedly usedrnIraqi threats and provocations (i.e., briefrnincursions by Iraqi troops across the border)rnas an excuse to mistreat minoritiesrnseen as holding “pro-Iraq” sentiments.rnThe large Palestinian and Bedoon (statelessrnArab) populations in Kuwait are stillrnseen as having been supportive of thernIraqi occupiers, despite the large numbersrnof men and women in both communitiesrnwho fought in the resistance.rnAs a result, their freedoms are severelyrnconstricted. Particulariy hard hit are thernBedoons, who have been shut out ofrntheir traditional occupations in the policernand military, barred from sendingrntheir children to state-run schools, andrnconfined to a few dismal slums.rnAt other times, the Bedoons’ punishmentrntakes a more palpable form. Inrn1995 the police rounded up hundreds ofrn”undesirable” Bedoons and placed themrnwithout charge in the Talha DeportationrnPrison. The Bedoons then had thernchoice of leaving Kuwait or remaining inrnthe overcrowded jail, which was originallyrnbuilt as a sehoolhouse. In protest, thernTalha inmates went on a hunger strike,rnwhich finally resulted in some efforts tornimprove their conditions. A majorit)’ ofrnthe Bedoons in Kuwait hae lied therernfor their entire lives, but harassment andrnintimidation ha’C driven roughly half ofrntheir community of 300,OOO from therncountry.rnKuwait’s Palestinian community hasrnalso shrunk from about 400,000 torn33,000, thanks to official policies whichrninclude employment discrimination, arnfine imposed on Palestinians for everyrnday they remain in the country, as well asrnmore direct methods of intimidation.rnMiddle East Watch (in A Victory TurnedrnSour: Human Rights in Kuwait Since Liberation)rnhas tried to bring attention torncases such as that of Kalil Bahour, arnPalestinian who directed the Umin al-rnHaiman Secondary School in Kuwait.rnArrested by the police without warningrnor explanation, Bahour disappearedrnfrom sight. His wife later heard from thernpolice that he was ill and had been takenrnto al-Addan Hospital. I’pon reachingrnthe hospital, Bahour’s relatives foundrnthat he had died ten days before fromrnwhat must have been a very bizarre illnessrn—he showed signs of having beenrntortured with a sharp weapon, and hisrnnose and ears were cut off. Yet his deatlirncertificate said that he had succumbedrnto a heart attack and kidney failure.rnDon’t expect the White House torndenounce Kuwait’s mistreatment of itsrnreligious minorities. In Kuwait, it is notrnAfrikaancrs oppressing blacks Isut Muslimsrnpersecuting Christians and othersrnwho have failed to achieve official statusrnas victims.rn—Michael WashburnrnJOHN C. SALVI m has been convictedrnof killing employees at two abortionrnclinics and sentenced to two consecutivernlife terms by Judge Barbara Dortch-rnOkara. The judge refused to let Salvirnread a statement about his religious beliefsrn—or delusions, as his attorney pleadedrn—and the jur’ rejected the insanitvrnplea. Yet it really ought to be concededrnthat if Mr. Salvi believes that the child inrnthe womb is a human being, wfiose lifernought to be protected, if necessar} evenrnby violent assaults on those who wouldrn”terminate” it, then our societ}’ ought tornapree that he is indeed mentalK unbalc?rnanecd. As long as our society, with thernPresident at its head, agrees that thernunborn child is not human, at least notrnuntil it is more than three-quarters out ofrnthe womb, must it not regard those whornbelieve otherwise as delusional?rnThe judge was evidently hostile to therndefendant, which is understandable in arnrepresentative of a judicial system whichrnhas staked its entire honor and integritrnon the fiction that the unborn child isrnnot a human being. The prosecutor,rnJohn Kivlan, asking for the maximumrnsentence, stated, “We feel that the premeditationrnand cruelty in this ease wasrnextraordinary” Indeed, but did Dr.rnI laskell not premeditate the “procedure”rnhe pioneered and advocated? And is itrnnot cruel to kill a not-quite-born humanrnbeing by sucking out its brain, a procedurernthat would be criminal cruelty ifrnperformed on an animal? A soeict}’ thatrnrests easiK’ with abortion on demand willrnfind it incrcasingl}” difficult to engage inrncredible moral discourse on other formsrnof violence and killing, whether it bern”physician assisted” at the bedside orrnperformed with a pistol at close range.rnThe reading of the verdict and sentencingrnwas accompanied by many emotionalrnscenes. Mrs. Ruth Ann Nichols,rnthe mother of one of the murderedrnwomen, had said to Mr. SaKi on the witnessrnstand, “I hope you have sheer miseryrnthe rest of your life.” Her anguish isrncertainly understandable, as is that ofrnMrs. Ann Marie Salvi, John Salvi’s mother.rnMr. Salvi’s crime has brought deathrnto two people, misery to man-, and arnharsh judgment on himself. Biblicallyrnspeaking, Mr. Salvi may be said to haverndeserved a death sentence, but then thernsame might well be said of those whorncommit infanticide. As the New Repuhhcrneditorialized in July 1976, late abortionrnis hardly to be distinguished fronrrninfanticide, “nevertheless, we arc for it,”rnas the social cost of requiring women torn6/CHRONICLESrnrnrn