STUDENT CELEBRATES LIBERATION

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Seven months of waiting came to an end last week for Samih Ayoub. News of the liberation of his homeland was accompanied by television pictures of his people celebrating in the streets.

"I wish I could just go out and celebrate in the streets," said Ayoub. "After seven months of Iraqi occupation, who wouldn't love getting their freedom? It's just great news."

Ayoub, who has lived in Cape Girardeau for four years, is a student at Southeast Missouri State University. He said although he's jubilant about the war being over, he still worries about his sister and other relatives in Kuwait. He hasn't heard from any of them since before the Aug. 2 Iraqi invasion of his country.

"I'm very worried about them, and every day that passes makes me worry more," he said.

Since Aug. 2, Ayoub said he has tried to call his sister in Kuwait every night. "There is just no connection. The last I heard there was no water or electricity, and their lives might be in danger."

But since U.S. and allied forces liberated his country, Ayoub balances his worry with joy. The end of Saddam Hussein's terrorism means his country will finally be able to begin to restore itself.

"It will probably take three to five years before everything is fixed again," he said. "And we have to remember what the Iraqi invasion has done in people's hearts. The scars are going to stay longer than anything else."

He predicts Kuwait will be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild itself. And he wants Hussein to pay for the destruction and death he has caused the Kuwaiti people. He does not want to see the Iraqi leader granted asylum in another country.

"It's not fair," said Ayoub. "I hope he will be removed from power. Not only removed, but punished for what he has done to Kuwait and the Iraqi people in the last 10 or 11 years."

Hussein has not only hurt and killed Kuwaiti people, but his own as well, he said.

"That's why they surrendered. The majority of Iraqi people are against him. That's why they didn't resist."

Ayoub said the war was Hussein's and not the Iraqi people's. He called the Iraqi leader a "blood lover."

"His people have been in a war with Iran for eight years, and they're just sick of war. They just can't take it anymore."

For some, the Persian Gulf War was relatively short. But for Ayoub, each day of the seven-month conflict was a difficult one.

He said he kept his television on almost around the clock. And, especially in the past two weeks, has missed classes because he didn't want to neglect the latest developments.

"The war really seemed long, I guess because of my relatives and friends there who I'm very worried about," he said. Ayoub mentioned his sister several times and said he missed her and wanted more than anything to hear from her. "As soon as she is able, I'm sure she'll contact me," he said.

Ayoub will graduate with a degree in computer science in May 1992, after which he plans to return permanently to Kuwait. But he plans to go back this summer to see his loved ones.

As for his homeland, he hopes for peace, and someday, democracy.

"Kuwait is more democratic than any other country in that area, but there needs to be more done. Democracy wouldn't hurt."