
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991                   TAG: 9103240084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KUWAIT CITY                                LENGTH: Short

BUSH WINS KUWAITI HEARTS

Women want to marry him or name their children after him. Men call him boss or father. His name is on the lips of children.

George Bush, the liberator, has won Kuwaiti hearts.

When Kuwait's emir, Sheik Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, returned home after seven months in exile, only about 5,000 Kuwaitis showed up to welcome him.

But Kuwaitis predict tens of thousands will turn out to cheer Bush when he makes a visit to the emirate. The White House says he wants to come soon, but no date has been set.

"If Bush comes, we will put him as emir," said Amal Al-Najjar, 30, a math teacher who printed an underground newspaper at her home and organized trips to Baghdad for Kuwaiti families to visit their loved ones who were prisoners of war.

"We used to have a saying, `God, Land and the Emir.' Now people say, `God, Land and Bush,' because even all the children know who got Kuwait free - Mr. Bush," she said.

Talib Ashkanani, 45, a secondary school principal surveying one of many schools trashed by the Iraqis, said, "He's our father now. We are reborn now. We will never forget him. We want to put a 51st star in the flag of the United States - the star of Kuwait."

Ismail Qabazard, 34, an agricultural company owner, said simply, "He's the boss."

by CNB