While serving in the US Army in 1944 when he was assigned in Southeast Asia during World War II, American soldier William Wynne purchased a dog he named ‘Smoky’.
Smoky accompanied Wynne in the last few months of the war. Smoky was a genius, such that she learned many skills and tricks, as well as contributed to battles. She parachuted, walked blindfolded on a tight rope and danced to music. She interacted with the soldiers, especially the injured. One day, she rescued her owner from a fatal accident. She also saved many soldiers when she completed a difficult task — connecting a wire inside a small pipe. This task was supposed to be carried out by hundreds of soldiers, which could have exposed their life to danger under cannon bombing.
When the war ended, Smoky became a familiar face on media in America and around the world. In 1957, Smoky died at the age of 14. She was placed in a World War II ammunition box and buried in a natural reserve at RockyRiver, Ohio. The place is near the house of my friend, Hassan Al-Hassawi. In 2005, the bronze statue of Smoky was unveiled; sitting on a helmet of a US soldier on top of a blue granite platform.
It seems we are insincere and ungrateful to those who did us favors; particularly those who do not belong to our nationality, religion or ethnicity.
Did we memorialize the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the late US President George H W Bush for their significant role in liberating Kuwait from the Iraqi invaders? Why did we forget the efforts of doctors who volunteered to serve in Kuwait 100 years ago like Dr Arthur Bennett, Dr Charles Mullary and Dr Louis Schudder as well as many American nurses who provided exemplary services to Kuwaiti families for several decades? Their missionary objective could had been disproved, because they did not leave Kuwait despite realizing in the first few months how difficult it was to persuade an Arab Peninsula Muslim citizen to convert to Christianity.
British politician, historian and commissioner in Iraq and Bahrain Harold Dickson (1881-1959) stayed in Kuwait after his retirement in 1936. He contributed to the establishment of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). His wife continued to live in Kuwait after his death. She wanted to stay and be buried in Kuwait, but she moved to Britain, because of the Iraqi invasion. She died and was buried in Britain.
We can mention many other personalities like Major General Khalil Shehaibar who established Kuwaiti police, Dr Yahya Al-Hadeedi and Dr Ahmad Salama who were granted Kuwaiti citizenship and deserved to be memorialized by naming main streets after them. We also ignored many Muslim doctors and scientists whose names are not seen on any institution or street. We preferred to name main streets after Hassan Al-Banna, Al-Mughera and other unknown individuals. We did so only because some extremist officials found it suitable.
On the other hand, American and European countries and universities named institutions and research centers after Muslim scientists, intellectuals and physicians like Al-Farabi, Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina. We ignored them totally and refused to honor them. They were philosophers. It is more than enough to regard them as atheists and heretics.
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By Ahmad alsarraf
