Middle East attacks spark fear

KUWAIT CITY -- In Kuwait, two American soldiers are shot on a quiet stretch of desert highway. In Lebanon, an American nurse is murdered at a clinic. In Jordan, a U.S. diplomat is gunned down in his front yard.\nAs U.S. soldiers prepare for possible war with Iraq, and as violence continues in American-allied Israel and the Palestinian territories, a series of attacks on Americans in the Middle East has sparked fears that even friendly nations like Kuwait are no longer enclaves of safety.\n"The thing that is scary, that's different this time, is that it seems more organized," said Felix Reinberg, an American engineer who has spent 11 years working in Kuwait. He spoke days after the U.S. soldiers were injured in the highway shooting Thursday. "They've never really targeted Americans or Westerners in Kuwait."\nThe Kuwaiti government, eager to keep good relations with Washington, has portrayed the shooting as the act of a single, mentally ill man, not a reflection of broad anti-American feelings. But local press reports say the suspect, Khaled al-Shimmiri, told investigators he hated Americans and Jews.\nMany here fear the attack -- Kuwait's second in which American soldiers were shot -- will not be the last.\n"It's obvious these incidents will happen, and will continue to happen," said Abdullah Sahar, a political scientist at Kuwait University. "Kuwait is a very small society, and this is a very small country, and the Americans are everywhere: You go to the markets and you see Americans, you go on the street and you see Americans, maybe your neighbors are Americans."\nThe vast majority of this oil-rich nation is pro-American, grateful to the U.S.-led coalition that drove out Saddam Hussein's army in the 1991 Gulf War. Thousands of American workers and more than 10,000 U.S. soldiers have been welcomed.\nEven America's harshest critics want those troops to remain -- though they insist a deep hatred lies beneath the placid surface.\n"Most Kuwaitis want America to stay in Kuwait because they don't trust Saddam," said Abdul-Razzak al-Shayegi, an Islamic law scholar. "But how can I want America to be in Kuwait and shut my mouth about what they are doing in Israel?…How can I give America our land to attack Iraq?"\nWith anti-American sentiment on the rise, Kuwait's large, open American presence can offer easy targets.\n"Just 10 Kuwaitis planning to kill or do something against Americans, nobody can block them," Sahar said.\nOfficially, the Kuwaiti government says the country is unreservedly pro-American. "Be sure that all Kuwait -- all Kuwait, all Kuwaitis -- appreciate and welcome the Americans," said Khalid Al-Jarallah, an undersecretary in the Foreign Ministry.\nPrivately, though, some Kuwaiti officials acknowledge security concerns. Since the fatal shooting of a U.S. Marine and the wounding of another in an attack by Islamic extremists Oct. 8, nearly 25 percent of the country has been sealed off, left to U.S. and Kuwaiti soldiers preparing for war with Iraq.