Liberation Tower (Kuwait) from Iraq. Liberation Tower (Kuwait) The Liberation Tower is a 372-meter-high telecommunications tower in Kuwait City, Kuwait, the second-tallest structure in the country and the 39th tallest building in the world. Originally intended to be named The Kuwait Telecommunications Tower, construction of the tower commenced before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. When the invasion took place, construction, which was almost half-way complete, was put on hold. However, the structure received no damage, and construction resumed after Iraqi forces were expelled on February 27, 1991. Upon completion in 1993, the tower was renamed the Liberation Tower, symbolizing
CIA activities in Iraq [against Hussein's regime]. At the center was Shahwani, a Sunni from Mosul and a charismatic commander who made his reputation in 1984 with a helicopter assault on Iranian troops atop a mountain in Iraqi Kurdistan. His popularity made him dangerous to Saddam Hussein, and he was arrested and interrogated in 1989. He fled the country in May 1990, just before Iraq invaded Kuwait." In 1991, Shahwani began efforts to organize a military coup utilizing former members of the special forces, which Hussein had disbanded. After the Gulf War, CIA took steps to correct the shortcomings identified during the Gulf War