Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad
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Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah was the Amir of Kuwait during the 1990 Iraqi invasion and the 1991 liberation. He had previously served as Minister of Finance, where in the 1970s he developed what became Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund, "the first sovereign wealth" fund, designed to outlive Kuwaiti oil. Per John Kiriakou: "If anything, he was really good with money. He had a very long-term vision."

The 1991 Washington invitation

Kiriakou, assigned to Taif working with the Kuwaiti government-in-exile, observed the Amir's state and sent a cable to CIA headquarters. The cable went to the CIA director, who took it to President Bush. Bush: "Let's invite him to Washington. Let's give him the red carpet treatment. We'll invite him to Washington and I'm going to tell him what a great job he's doing and how much his people need him." The Amir went, the pictures from the meetings were "just all smiles," and he returned with renewed focus on liberation.

Kiriakou's characterization: "He was a very kind and decent man and a leader who genuinely loved and cared for his people. It was something really to respect. He was beside himself with grief that this had happened."

Nervous breakdown cable

Kiriakou, assigned to Taif, Saudi Arabia, 20 miles from Mecca, to look after the exiled Kuwaiti royal family, says the Amir was so traumatized by the invasion that he would sit in the garden and cry. Kiriakou cabled headquarters with his own assessment: "I'm not a psychologist, but I think the emir's having a nervous breakdown."

See also

- Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah
- Skip Gnehm
- John Kiriakou
