"UNIDENTIFIED MALE" indeed! It was Robbins that said this!!
If you think about it for half a second -- considering the murder, torture, rape and pillage visited on Kuwait and its citizens (e.g. dipping victims slowly in acid baths) -- this statement is incredibly cold. Liberating Kuwait from this brutality was "a load of bunk" as far as Tim (white, well-fed and never dipped in acid) Robbins is concerned.
Furthermore the claim about elections is almost certainly untrue. Kuwait did and does have an elected parliament. It is true that the executive power is invested in the unelected monarchy, which does have the power to disband the parliament, but for all Tim's elitist sneering this is in fact one of the freest and most progressive regime in the Gulf, or indeed, along with Jordan which has the same system, in the entire Arab world.
Someone needs to write the Kuwaiti ambassador and/or any english language Kuwaiti papers regarding Tim's smear.
Aha! Three parliamentary elections have been held in Kuwait since the Gulf War, with the next elections scheduled for 2003:
During Iraq's 1990-91 occupation of Kuwait, Kuwaiti opposition leaders met with the Government in an extraordinary meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to decide who was the legitimate government in exile. They emerged with a pledge to support the Amir and the Crown Prince as the legitimate representatives of the Kuwaiti people. The Amir in turn pledged to hold elections and to restore parliamentary democracy. In 1992, the Amir fulfilled his promise by holding elections in October. The first session of the reconvened Assembly ran its course, and elections were held again in 1996. Under normal circumstances, the Assembly would have stood for election again in October of 2000, but on May 4, 1999 the Amir once again dissolved the Parliament. This time, however, the dissolution followed constitutional guidelines, and early elections were scheduled for July 3.
See also:
Kuwait elections go online (BBC 1 July 1999)
New Kuwait Cabinet Passes Sweeping Reforms (Womens Vote, Open Economy '99)
(American) Muslim Women's League article about Kuwaiti Emir's decree enfranchising women ('99)
Kuwaiti legislature says 'no' to women's vote
NOTE that all decrees by the executive (Emir & Primeminister) must be approved by the Parliament, which can also introduce legislation. The measure to allow women to vote and hold office was defeated by only two votes.
Women Win Right to Challenge Discriminatory Electoral Law (Amnesty Intl 2 June 2000)
Kuwait's women fighting for right to vote 13 July 2001
Court challenge failed on a technicality, but the movement for feminine enfranchisement struggles on
Anybody know the latest on the woman's vote? The preceeding (summer 2001) is as far as I've traced it so far. In any case it appears that Kuwait has a rather raucous democracy willing and able to challenge the will of the royal family. So much for Tim Robbins' cold and mean-spirited smear.