Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait permanently stranded Iraqi exiles in America

Evidence

Meanwhile, Haythem completed his studies on the health effects of drug addiction and received an offer of work from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. The family hadn’t yet decided if they would stay in the United States, but one month later Iraq invaded Kuwait, and whatever hopes they had had of returning to either country fizzed and evaporated like a drop of water on hot sand. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 593

Categorization

• QUESTION: The line about hoping to return to ‘either country’ — Iraq or Kuwait — is poignant; worth noting how many Iraqi exiles in the US had planned to repatriate and were cut off by 1990.