
August 23rd, 1990. The children were mostly British. The boy in this screen shot from Kuwait.kw is 5-year-old Stewart Lockwood.
From the transcript of Frontline’s “The Gulf War:
SADDAM HUSSEIN: [through interpreter] Does Stuart get his milk?HOSTAGE: Yes, he does.
STUART LOCKWOOD: He patted me on the head and ruffled my hair up and I was scared because of the soldiers.
SADDAM HUSSEIN: [through interpreter] Are you getting your milk, Stuart?
STUART LOCKWOOD: My throat was going all shivering and all that and I goes, “Oh, no. It’s going to get me.” It was something like that. “You’re going to put me in this room forever with my mum and dad and my brother.” I felt really nervous.
RICK ATKINSON: He was a man who miscalculated in taking hostages and then compounded his miscalculation and made Schwarzkopf’s military efforts much easier by letting them go in December. Every time he had to make a major strategic decision, Saddam guessed wrong.
He doesn’t seem to have the act of “bluffing” down quite so well, either.

Comments
You blindsided me with this one – honest to Pete I sucked half the air out of the room when I first saw that picture. That particular little telecast really got under my skin back then – I was both outraged and perplexed that Saddam thought he was being benevolent. I had no idea it still could pounce on me like that. Yikes. I’ve linked.
Now Stuart can feel like justice was served!