Kuwaiti and Croatian friends

I'm extremely delighted to be able to spend time with two fine gentlemen, a Kuwaiti (Mr. K) and a Croatian (Mr. C). Because of them, I truely feel how fortunate I have been. Both of them have experienced wars first-hand. Mr. K with the First Gulf War and Mr. C with the Yogoslavian war in the early 90's

One of the conversations with Mr. K goes like this
Me: What do you think about the US?
Mr. K: Well, I can't say that I agree with the US foreign policy. But I have to be thankful to them. Without America, there's no Kuwaiti. By the way, our security depends on the US now. So we are friends
Me: Do you feel happy being a friend of the US?
Mr. K: I know their intentions. They didn't help us because they really love Kuwaitis. But I was in Kuwait City during the whole duration of Iraqi occupation. Life was tough. When the Iraqis retreated, they took everyone they could see hostage. No matter how evil their intentions are, the outcome is that the US saved us
Me: Do you like to continue working with the US?
Mr. K: Sure, we're making a lot of money. We supply them a lot of things - drinks, rubber, oil, power. Their money is helping us build our industry. It's good to have American military bases here