2008 Occasional Papers - AUK

the event was encoded in parallel as declarative memory inthe first place”. They suggest that “learned dispositions”must be “represented and interpreted to construct adeclarative memory”. By contrast, Stoller (1995: 28-29),drawing on Connerton’s distinctions between personal,cognitive and habit memories, suggests that “habitdoes not lend itself to the visual bias that is central todiscursive analysis… In their insistence of the discursive,scholars transform the figurative into language and text.And yet our memories are never purely personal, purelycognitive, or purely textual”. For Connerton and Stoller,separating personal, cognitive and habit memories fromsocial memories is meaningless. A young man, aged 26,recalled, “I developed a twitch after frequent torture; mynerves were extremely damaged. My family got depressedbecause I became a drug addict during the war to escapethe pain I was going through. I got the drugs from theIraqi soldiers.” A 23 year old young woman said, “I heardcanons. It was always dark. My family and I felt isolatedbecause it was unsafe for us to leave the house. Life wasdepressing and frightening and everyone felt anxious andtense. I still can’t look at anything related to the war orP.O.W.S. without feeling extremely very sad.” A 29 yearold woman recalled, “There was black smoke everywhere,especially a few months into the occupation. It looked likenight time all day long. The sea was very contaminated.I saw dirty and dead wildlife on the streets and oceancoasts (mostly birds). My family and I were very anxiousthe entire time because my uncle was in the Resistance(al-moqawama). Soldiers raided and searched the houseto find him and execute him. I didn’t know where he was.We were scared for his life because we never contactedhim or saw him during the entire war. I developed a fearof bombs and loud noises. I still feel jittery when I hear aloud noise. I felt a serious lack of security and safety.”Child Witnesses: Concluding RemarksOur preliminary findings suggest that young Kuwaiti adults,child witnesses of the 1990 Iraqi invasion, experienceintrusive images of tortured and mutilated bodies triggeredby the 2003 U.S. War on Iraq. These intrusive images are aconfluence of veridical recall, obsessional worry, and vividruminations of “worst case scenarios”. Young Kuwaitistend toward obsessive anxious vigilance about the U.S.War on Iraq or complete disengagement; though few ofour subjects were diagnosed with PTSD or depression,the majority report increased post-invasion depressionand aggression, using drugs and alcohol to self-medicate.The young Kuwaitis in our study describe insecurity andconfusion about human accountability—who to blame fortheir traumatic experiences during the Iraqi invasion andoccupation. Some blame Saddam Hussein and the BathistIraqi regime, while others blame the Kuwaiti Emir andRoyal family, the Kuwaiti government, or parents who “fledfrom Kuwait”, failing to provide adequate security andcare. Our young Kuwaiti adults report increased mistrust,nationalism and ethnic chauvinism, no sense of future orfuture planning, and numbness and emptiness. Almost allof our study respondents have an “escape plan”, meaningthat they hold the passport or a current visa of anothercountry to facilitate a quick departure from Kuwait.The effects of trauma on our respondents reflect a convergenceof veridical recall, socialization and enculturation processesduring the occupation, and the transgenerationaltransmission of trauma through Kuwaiti familial interactions,reconstructions based on family members’ and communityreports of experience. Kuwaiti memories of theoccupation were closely tied to social, familial relationsand neighborhood. Temperament, biological factors,experience within families and neighborhoods, and priorexperience with trauma might serve to protect somechildren from serious psychological consequences—ormake them more vulnerable. For Kuwaiti young adults, it isthe temporal and spatial dimensions of trauma in relationto self and other that become important in communalrecovery from the trauma of the 1990 Iraqi invasion andoccupation. Nostalgia of pre-invasion social cohesivenessand safety, give way to traumatic aftereffects—personal,cognitive and habitual—and the divides of history,power and social position. These traumatic aftereffects areentangled memory strands that foster ongoing insecurity,mistrust, nationalism and ethnic chauvinism, requiringpsychological treatment, and relief that individuals mayneed, as well as attention to social and political responsesthat render trauma visible and account for the continuingdestructive presence of other forms of violence.21