Kuwait Says Thanks -- Again

Metro Signs Commemorate Second 10th Anniversary

Kuwait is a grateful nation. A very grateful nation.

In fact, the country is so grateful to the United States for liberating it from Iraq in 1991 that its embassy decided to purchase 10th anniversary billboards in area Metro stations - only it's 11 years after the event.

The gaffe caught the public relations team of the Kuwaiti Embassy off guard. Bart Marcois, public affairs adviser of the Kuwait Information Office, said no one in the office was aware of the mistake until a washingtonpost.com reporter called to inquire about the incorrect signs. The Persian Gulf War officially ended in February 1991.

"Since Sept.11, we've been so busy that we forgot [the advertisement] said 10th anniversary," Marcois said. "You've sort of caught us with our pants down."

The signs, which are displayed in 10 Metro stations, show a photo of a Kuwaiti man, his turban and robe blowing in the wind, shielding a boy in front of a burning oil well set ablaze by retreating Iraqi troops. The text thanks the American people on the 10th anniversary of the liberation from Iraq "for our families, for our freedom, for our future."

Marcois doesn't want the mistake to diminish the Kuwaiti message: "One of the messages we tried to get out was America has liberated a lot of countries, but there is only one since World War II that bothered to say 'thank you.' "

Tareq Al-Mezrem, public affairs attaché at the Kuwait Information Office, said the signs have even more resonance since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon even if they are off by an entire year.

"Especially now, with the war on terrorism, we are trying to show the American people that we are grateful for the American role in liberating Kuwait and support now the war against terror," Al-Mezrem said.

The "Kuwait Thanks America" billboard first ran in Metro stations in August and September 2001. The Kuwait Information Office said that the campaign received such a positive reaction they decided to run it again for the February 2002 anniversary but that they neglected to update the text.

The 12-person office in the Watergate complex was in charge of the content of the ad and did not ask to make changes to the text before running the campaign again this month, according to Nicole Gostonski, account executive at Viacom Outdoor, the company contracted by Metro to sell billboard space. Gostonksi said the billboards typically cost $1,400 per display.

Al-Mezrem, a Kuwaiti, said he likes the ad and hopes it will run again. If it does, he said, the text will be corrected.

"We need to send the message that after 10 years -- 11 years -- we are still grateful."