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Kuwait - Post War 1991 [OA 8487]
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Kuwait - Post War 1991 [OA 8487]
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Speech Backup Alphabetical Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Backup Files
Subseries:
Alpha File, 1987-1991
OA/ID Number:
13844
Folder ID Number:
13844-011
Folder Title:
Kuwait-Post-War, 1991
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26
23
3
1
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 16, 1991
FACT SHEET
On April 7, under Presidential directive, Operation Provide
Comfort was launched to meet the humanitarian challenge unfolding
in Iraq and to help alleviate the conditions of the refugees.
Reports from the field indicate that almost 400,000 Iraqi
refugees, most of them Kurds, are massed at the Turkish border
and 400,000 displaced persons are on the Iraqi side of the
border. International organizations report that nearly 1,000,000
Iraqi civilians, mostly Kurds, have entered Iran, and as many as
500,000 more are moving toward the border. In addition,
approximately 30,000 Shiite Iraqis have moved into Iran and
approximately 30,000 are in occupied southern Iraq.
TURKEY/NORTHERN IRAQ
The United States and other Coalition partners stepped up their
relief efforts for Kurdish refugees yesterday as the European
Command established forward Humanitarian Service Support Bases at
Diyarbakir and Silopi, Turkey. These bases are located near the
Iraqi border and will provide more immediate access to the
hundreds of thousands of Kurdish refugees stranded in the
mountains of northern Iraq and southern Turkey. Diyarbakir will
be the primary staging point for continued airdrops by U.S. and
British C-130 and French C-160 aircraft, and Silopi will serve
helicopter and truck delivery operations. Supplies are being
transferred from Incirlik by air and truck convoy to the forward
bases.
Allied nations have flown 198 missions and air-dropped more than
1,345 tons of relief supplies since Operation Provide Comfort
began on April 7. Supplies include Meals Ready to Eat (MREs),
water, foodstuffs (milk, sugar, flour, salt and tea), tents,
blankets, clothing (field jackets), ground sheets, sleeping bags,
tarp rolls and baby food. The USS San Diego, a Sixth Fleet
supply ship, has begun off-loading bulk food items at the port of
Iskenderun, Turkey, for transport to the forward bases at
Diyarbakir and Silopi and subsequent disbursement to refugees.
Three ships from the Marine Amphibious Readiness Group, with
approximately 3,000 Marines onboard, have arrived and are
preparing to join the operation. Additional Navy and Marine
helicopters have come ashore and have begun air supply missions.
- more-
- 2 -
Stocks of bulk and canned food have begun moving from U.S. and
European supply centers. Twenty deliveries of bulk food such as
rice, beans, canned vegetables and fruit, flour and baby food
totaling some 500,000 pounds have begun arriving in Turkey by
air, ground and sea. Four ships from the Military Sealift
Command (MSC) -- the USNS Sirus, USNS Rigel, the World Lynx and
World Freedom carrying bulk food are expected to arrive in
Turkey within the next few days.
Clothing and shelter requirements have been identified and these
materials are presently being moved from the U.S. to Turkey by
the Defense Logistics Agency. Shelter items include some 1,400
tents, 570,000 blankets, 20,000 sleeping bags, over a million
bath towels, almost 60,000 sheets, 100,000 pillowcases and 86,000
shelter halves. Clothing includes over a million pairs of pants,
40,000 skirts, almost 300,000 ponchos and about 120,000 pairs of
gym shoes. Total tonnage of relief supplies currently en route
except by MSC is as follows: MREs - 1,257; blankets - 591;
tents - 287; bulk food 1,455; medical supplies - 838;
clothing - 94; mixture of food, blankets, etc. - 606.
Allied medical teams have arrived at the forward operating bases
and are already providing basic first aid to refugees and U.S.
forces.. Medical forces will be divided into 12 separate mobile
medical teams to provide a more flexible response for refugees in
various locations. Medical supplies expected to arrive at the
forward bases over the next few days include 150,000 hospital
blankets, 16,000 each of various types of vaccines, 50 bottles of
chloroquine, 500 cases of ringers lactate and 130,000 oral
rehydration packs.
Forces Involved in Refugee Relief Operations in the North:
1,936 U.S. Permanent Party at Incirlik AB, Turkey
2,840 Additional U.S. personnel
3,000 From 3-ship Marine Amphibious Readiness Group
(USS Guadalcanal, USS Austin, USS Charleston)
7,776
90 U.K.
121 French
7987 Coalition
- more -
- 3 -
U.S. Units Currently involved in Operation Provide Comfort:
- 61st Tactical Airlift Squadron, 8 C-130s, Little Rock, Arkansas
- 37th Tactical Airlift Squadron, 11 C-130s, Rhein Main AB,
Germany
- 302nd Tactical Air Wing (Res), 3 C-130s, Peterson AFB, Colorado
- 86th Tactical Fighter Wing, 8 F-16s, Ramstein, Germany
- 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, 12-A-10s, RAF Bentwaters, UK
- Strategic Air Command Detachment, 7 KC-135
- 552 Aviation Warning and Control Wing. 2 E-3, Tinker AFB,
Oklahoma
- Helicopter Support Squadron Four Det, 3-CH-53s, Sigonella,
Italy
- Echo Company, 502nd Aviation Regiment, 8 CH-47s, Aviano AB,
Italy
- 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit 12 CH-46, 3 UH-1,4 AH-1,
4 CH-53, Marine Corps Air Station, New River, North Carolina
SOUTHERN IRAQ
U.S. forces are implementing U.S. Central Command policy not to
abandon any refugees who desire to come into the demilitarized
zone during the withdrawal process. This includes transporting
refugees to the temporary relief sites, if necessary. To ensure
that refugees do not suffer in the transition of coalition forces
from southern Iraq, several days of provision of food and water
have been provided to resident and refugee populations desiring
to remain in Iraq. An estimated 30,000 people are currently
being assisted in coalition-occupied southern Iraq.
We have provided humanitarian assistance in southern Iraq since
February 28. To date, U.S. CENTCOM forces have provided over
500,000 meals, distributed one million gallons of water, treated
thousands of Iraqi patients, and evacuated over 350 Iraqi
civilians for treatment at U.S. or Saudi hospitals. U.S. forces
drilled a well in Safwan for use by civilians, which is producing
30,000 gallons of water a day.
IRAN
The International Committee of the Red Cross and the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have been actively
involved in Iran since before the beginning of the refugee
influx. The United States and the international community are
providing assistance through U.N. and international relief
organizations. We are in touch with Iranian officials through
our protecting power, Switzerland, and we are considering ways we
may be of further assistance.
# # #
Brian Krause, of Houston's Red Adair Inc., guides a capping device into place over an oil well in Kuwait's Greater Burgan Oil Field, as co-worker Bert Ballard watches.
Fighting the Great Balls of Fire WPOST
The Rough-and-Ready Texans Take On Kuwait's Oil Well Blazes 4-1-91
By Lee Hockstader
firefighter with Joe Bowden's Wild Well
Washington Post Foreign Service
Control Inc. of Houston ("24-hour service.
Oil well fire blowout specialists").
GREATER BURGAN OIL FIELD,
"When Joe first came back from his
Kuwait, March 31
inspection tour, it's all he ever could refer
ou approach an oil well fire
Y
to it. We saw pictures, we saw a little video
cautiously, and with the wind at
footage he had, and you get to talking about
your back.
it and all he could call it was a mess. I
The flames shoot up to 150
thought he d lost his mind, I thought he'd
feet high and burn at
lost his ability to converse-you know, his
temperatures nearing 3,000 degrees
vocabulary.
But that's all you can say:
Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt steel. They
It's a mess. They had to work hard in seven
produce a roar like a jet engine and can be
months to destroy all this.'
so brilliant that you have to squint at them
Hill, 39, who has fought oil well fires and
up close.
blowouts for 20 years, has seen a thing or
If you're smart about it, which is to say if
two. He's traveled the world (although not
you're experienced, you carry a 10-foot-tall
to its most glamorous corners), has a habit
corrugated tin heat shield, wear
of referring to all men as "hands" (as in,
flame-retardant cotton long johns beneath
"these oil wells are as different as people,
coveralls, keep your pockets empty and
hand") and wears his scars from oil fields
leave as little skin exposed as possible.
and "wine shops" the way military men
Otherwise, your face and arms begin to
wear ribbons.
burn about 40 yards from the flame and the
If Hill and his fellow Texans are a little
keys in your pocket get so hot that they
awed by the spectacle all around them on
print little red welts on your thigh.
the Greater Burgan Oil Field, they are also
About 20 yards from the wellhead, where
in their element. Virtually all of them grew
the desert sand is so hot that it shimmers
up near oil fields, worked as roughnecks
and turns to glass, the rubber soles of your
during high school and graduated (or didn't)
The Boots and Coots Co.'s Boots Hansen, left, Ace Barnes and Joe Carpenter ride a cranelike
shoes get gummy and start to melt.
contraption used Saturday in an unsuccessful attempt to put out a well fire.
to take a job in the Texas oil industry.
The firefighters who get that close tend
Fighting oil well fires, said Hill, "is kinda
to step lively, but even that's not a sure bet.
some calculated risks, but we don't take any
and summer, traveling on an hour's notice
what you call at the top of the heap.
One of the most experienced hands in the
chances."
and killing oil fires every which way.
This is it as far as I'm concerned.'
business, Ace Barnes of Houston's Boots
Barnes, a 62-year-old Texan, is one of
They' been handsomely paid, celebrated
But there's another incentive too, as the
and Coots Inc., burned his feet last
the tiny fraternity of oil firefighters that has
as latter-day American heroes and lavished
plentiful assortment of gold Rolex watches
week-and not for the first time in his
descended on Kuwait in the past month.
with publicity.
and large diamond rings attests.
career.
Nearly all Texans, they are short on formal
Some may even have thought they' seen
Roughnecks working on the Kuwait oil
"I tried to get the doctor to let me lay
education but make up for it with years of
just about everything an oil patch could
fires will earn $1,000 a day. More
around a little longer, but he wouldn't let
experience in oil fields.
throw at them. Until Kuwait.
experienced hands like Hill will probably
pull down quite a bit more. Brian Krause, a
me," Barnes drawled. But in a more serious
Most of them have worked in nearly
35-year-old engineer with Red Adair Inc. of
moment, he added: "We don't take any
every continent under nearly every kind of
"It's bad, that's all you can call it. It's a
Houston, the world's most famous oil
chances with these fires. We may take
condition, in desert and jungle, in winter
mess," said George Hill, a strapping
See FIREFIGHTERS, D4, Col. 1
Photo copy Preservation
D4 MONDAY APRIL 1; 199
The Web of Destruction
The Greater Burgan Oil Field,
which starts about 25 miles south of
Fighting the Oil Fire
Kuwait City, is the world's second
largest, after one in Saudi Arabia. It
Apocalypse Now
FIREFIGHTERS, From D1
"They actually did experiments
contains about 55 billion barrels of
firefighting firm, said he fully expec-
see how they could best blow u;
oil-about twice the total U.S. re-
The result is an environmental su-
per-catastrophe that a United Nations
ted to get very rich in Kuwait.
wellhead what positioning a
serves-in an area that would fit easi-
official has likened to the 1986 Soviet
The firefighters and roughnecks
amounts of explosives worked be
inside Rhode Island.
have transformed this tiny corner
he said. "They started wiring the W.
This sprawling expanse of flat des-
nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.
the Arab desert into a Little slice
in the first week they arrived. In 1
ert, beautiful in its way, helped make
Teams of international health and
the tiny emirate one of the world's
environmental experts are shuttling
Texas, complete with steak-and potato
cember they blew up six wells here
into Kuwait City, and most issue
dinners, small army of pickup trucks
the Ahmadi, area as experiments
most modern and wealthy nations. It
vaguely apocalyptic statements on
and a nonstop stream of good-natured
see how best you could do it.
was the prize that Iraqi President Sad-
their way out that conclude that no
drawling banter.
They put in a command struct
dam Hussein was after when he invad-
Also imported from Texas is fierce
of three levels to make sure the
ed Kuwait last Aug. 2. And it was the
one has the slightest idea what the
long-term health and environmental
and not particularly friendly competi-
got done right, 80 that even if one
prize that President George Bush was
impact will be:
tion: The three firefighting firms
backed out there was a fail-safe,
determined not to let him have.
The burning wells pour acrid black
here-Red Adair's, Joe Bowden's and
They had an extremely systema
Within four or five days of the inva-
sion, Iraqi soldiers and engineers
smoke into the sky that blots out the
Boots and Coots-have never worked
way of going about it"
sun during the day for miles around,
a job together before. In their differ
The engineering and explosive
started to fan out across Kuwait's oil
depending on the wind's direction. At
ent-colored coveralls-red for Adair
work was similarly painstaking, F
fields, packing most of the 1,080
yellow for Bowden and white for Boots
said. The Iraqis used electric WI
working wellheads with C-4 plastic ex-
night, the fires light the horizon with
plosives.
an orange glow that is at once ghastly
and Coots-they' re as easily distin-
running like. spokes from detonati
It was an enormous undertaking,
and strangely beautiful.
guishable as rival football powers, And
hubs in the midst of the oil fields
The fires and gushers themselves
that's the way they like it.
electric detonating caps in the SI
and the Iraqis carried it out with an
are not the greatest challenges facing
***Adair is the 78-year-old all firefight-
rounding wellheads. As a backup S)
extensive bureaucracy and deft engi-
Ing legend played by John Wayne in the
tem, they wired nonelectric deto
neering. American experts hired by
Flak and the teams he is organizing.
tors connecting the wells directly
the state-owned Kuwait Oil Co. to su-
Rather, the sheer scale of the disaster
1969 movie Hellfighters Even
though he hasn't shown up in Kuwait
each other. The effect was a firi
pervise restoration of the nation's oil
is posing logistical obstacles that no
one had ever considered.
yet, his company is the biggest
system that resembled a great S1
industry estimate that it took 1,000
name-and the biggest target.
der's web, all connected to 30 to
troops and 30 to 40 engineers to plan
Flak started planning his strategy in
"I
October, when almost no one believed
don't
want
to
run
Red
and
them
pounds of C-4 plastic explosive
and execute the destruction. Nothing
down, but we way ahead by just
packed with sandbags around the ba
was left to chance. And the results
that the worst-case scenario could
bore out the Iraqis' planning.
come true. There wasn't much finan-
scrounging stuff," said Bowden, whose
of each gushing wellhead.
Larry Flak, a 35-year-old Houston
cial backing; it seemed foolhardy to
firm scored a publicity coup last week
The Iraqis even dug thousands
begin buying equipment and organiz-
by being the first to plug a gushing
shallow trenches for the wiring SO th
engineer who is assembling and coor-
ing manpower when none of the wells
well. He considers the other two firms,
tanks and other armored vehicl-
dinating the vast firefighting force for
which are bigger and
could roll through the oil fields wit
the Kuwait Oil Co: here, speaks with a
had yet been set afire.
mixture of disgust and something ap-
But when Flak arrived in Kuwait
bunch of prima donnas,
out severing it.,
proaching professional admiration
just after the liberation, the enormous
There is also fierce rivalry between
Saddam saw it as 8 weapon," Sa
size of the task was apparent. The
Adair's firm and Boots and Coots: Both
Flak. "It was like, 'Well, they wo!
about the systematic destruction.
Boots Hansen and Coots Matthews
kick me out of Kuwait 'cause the
"They knew very much what they
Iraqis, in carrying out the Mother of
were doing,' he said the other night as
All Lootings in Kuwait, had stolen
worked for Adair until 1977, when he
know I'll set the fields on fire.
he sprawled in shorts and a T-shirt on
much of the Kuwait Oil Co.'s equip-
fired them abruptly after more than 25
When Operation Desert Storm b
a sofa in the lounge of Ahmadi House,
ment, including more than 100 large
years of fighting blowouts and blazes
gan with the air war Jan. 16, the Irac
side
a small hotel that is now headquarters
trucks, 30 bulldozers and 40 to 50
by
aide.
blew up 60 wells. Then, just days b
for Flak and his firefighters.
front-end loaders. Flak had to start
The two set out and started their
fore the ground offensive in Februar
Flak has been able to piece togeth-
from scratch, rounding up heavy
own firm, which was quickly in keen
the destruction began in earnest.
er the method and chronology of the
equipment and transportation from all
competition with Adair's. For years
Flak, who was in Houston plannir
destruction from physical evidence
over the Arab world and the West and
Hansen and Matthews sent Adair
strategy with a top Kuwait Oil Co. 0
left strewn in the desert, interviews
scrounging what he could from the
thank-you letter every Dec. 6, the an-
ficial, remembers watching the r
niversary of their firing.
ports of new fires come in.
with Kuwaiti resistance members, in-
desert in the meantime.
telligence reports and reams of docu-
Then there was the problem of
But the three seem to have left their
"We were monitoring intelligen
ments and notebooks left behind by
manpower. Would there be enough
rivalry outside the fences of the Kuwait
reports from satellites,' he said. "Ev
the Iraqis when they fled in the face of
expertise to tackle the problem, and
Oil Co. drilling yard, a compound just
ery two hours a satellite would pas
the United States led advance.
how quickly could food, lodging and
on the edge of the oil field and within
over Kuwait and we'd get a new re
Some of the most revealing note-
tools be available for them?
easy sight of about a dozen raging
port, and in the last few days ever
books were found at Ahmadi House,
"There are 100 people qualified to
fires. The Texans are using the drilling
time there was a new report they d'v
where the Iragis masterminded the
do this in the whole damn world, and
yard as a shop and staging ground, and
gotten more wells.
destruction of the Burgan oil field.
they ve got to be the best," said Flak.
the place is full of welders and machin-
"Saud [Al-Nashmi, the Kuwaiti off
The room where they were found
"We' ve got machinists working 24
ists grinding pipes and tubing and rig-
cial in charge of damage control] and
used to belong to the Iraqi petroleum
ging booms and bulldozers.
were almost sick to our stomachs. W
hours a day, guys who are wizards at
engineer in charge of blowing up the
coming up with different geometries
This is not high-tech work and
just sat there listening to the tally-
oil fields. That room is now occupied
to fit a particular conflagration, like
there are few. rules to follow. Every
250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500.
by Flak.
dentists coming up with capping
fire; every shattered wellhead is new
The plastic explosives did thei
problem awaiting a makeshift solution
work effectively. Between 500 an
fashioned with the benefit of common
600 of the wells were ignited, includ
sense and engineering.
ing the discovery well drilled in 1938
There are no books or anything like
which today is one of the largest blaz
that." said Hansen, 64, who served as
es, In about two-thirds of the explo
World War II submariner in the Pacific
sions, the wellheads were blown com
and never went to college. You just
pletely off, sparking roiling orang.
got to know what to do and get the job
infernos that John Pomfret, an Associ
done. Everybody wants to do it-they
ated Press reporter, has described a:
call up and say they know how to use
tornadoes from hell."
explosives or whatnot."
In other Instances, the wellhead:
Putting the fire out is the easy thing,
were badly damaged and the struc
the Texans say. That's like blowing the
tures of above-ground valves an
burner out on your stove while leaving
pipes were destroyed. In still others
the gas on full blast. It's capping the
the explosions ruined the wellheads
well-shutting down the gusher of
but failed to ignite the oil, leaving
oil-that takes some know-how and a
black geysers shooting into the air at
gift for improvisation.
rate of 40,000 barrels a day and pool
When you quit working on a well
ing into petroleum lakes up to four
and you killed it, you've accom-
feet deep, and spreading daily.
plished something that only a very few
They were better oil field engi-
people in this world can do," said
neers than they were soldiers," said
Barnes. "My wife says it builds my ego
Raymond Henry, 47, the top firefight-
er in Kuwait for Red Adair. "If they
were as good at combat as they were
at destroying oil fields, they' still be
fighting.
Said Hill: "Them hands really got at
eventually. He refuses to assemble
more teams for the time being, while
equipment, food and lodging remain in
supply.
The greatest is water.
Huge amounts will be needed to fight
the fires, and SO far only a trickle is
Kuwait's water supply was sabo-
taged by the retreating Iraqis, who
blew up distillation and desalination
plants as they fled the (country. To
combat the oil well fires, Kuwait Oil
Co. has hired Bechtel Corp., the Cali-
fornia engineering and construction
giant, to rig the pipes that usually car-
ry oil to the ports to work in reverse,
sucking water from the Persian Gulf
and carrying it 10 miles inland.
When the system is in place, it will
produce great volumes of water-up
to 15,000 gallons per minute in cer-
tain areas of the oil field-and fill up
plastic-bottomed "lagoons", in the des-
ert 20 feet deep and '40 times larger
But right now, everything is in the
preparation stage. The firefighters,
improvising with scrounged and jury-
rigged equipment; have managed to
staunch a dozen gushing oil geysers
but have yet to extinguish a fire.
There are predictions that it will take
:anywhere from a year to five years
don't think fair to ask me how
long it's going to take until we get ev-
erything in place in a month's time,
What's certain that the cost to
Kuwait- to Iraq, if can be forced
pay for the cleanup-will be astro-
nomical. The lost oil alone is estimat-
at 6 million barrels à day, worth at
least $100 million in lost revenues to
Kuwait. And fighting the fires will cost
at least $1 million daily.: perhaps a
the magnitude of the op-
eration," said Hill of Joe Bowden's
firm. "I don't believe we'll ever see it
THE WASHINGTON POST
short
available.
than a football field.
before all the fires are out.
said Flak, bristling for the only time
a conversation.
great deal more.
It's history in the making, man,
::again in our lifetime."
Bowden, and
in Kuwait.
different tooth every
# firefighters, machin-
= pumping experts,
eas, expert welders who
three hours than ntost
so in three days. We'll
- experts, heavy ma-
- can make a bulldoz-
-200 experts who can put
mement to within an inch of
asive undertaking, involv-
FED firefighters and skilled
: I an additional 600 to 700
-arkers, many of them
cally as "TWNs"-Third
tomals from India, Pakistan,
modate them all, Flak is
- for 1,000 men and
acommandeered the kitch-
- the Bayan Palace, where
ed before it was sacked by
proceeded
Egypt.
has
work
not three firefighting teams
afraction of the 15 to 20
expects to have working
Copy
Preservation
Photo
Duke Upsets UNLV, to Meet Kansas in NCAA Final-D1
Weather
Sections
Today: Sunny. Rather chilly.
High 56. Low 38. Wind 12-25 mph.
The Washington
A National News
E
Travel
Yesterday: Temp. range: 35-47.
Post
World News
F
Monday: Possible shower.
Style
B Outlook
G Show
High 58. Wind 8-16 mph.
Editorials
H Business
C Metro
K1 Employment
AQI: N/A. Details on Page C2.
Obituaries
K22 Classified
D Sports
Detailed index on Page A2
14TH YEAR
No. 116
SUNDAY, MARCH 31, 1991
Prices May Vary in Areas Outside
Metropolitan Washington (See Box on A2)
$1.25
U.S. Troops Witness Iraqi Attack on Town in Horror, Frustration
By Nora Boustany
ditches near a railway track south of the
able to do what we can," said Army Lt.
150 miles from the Kuwaiti border and
enraged by the experience of watching
Washington Post Foreign Service
line marking the northern edge of the area
Thomas Isom, 26, of Miami. "We have
near the tip of the 200-mile long sector
troops loyal to Saddam attack Samawah as
occupied by coalition forces. Green flags,
shown more discipline in the last four days
held by coalition troops-confirmed grue-
part of a campaign to crush a Shiite revolt
SAMAWAH OIL REFINERY, Iraq-
the insignia of the Shiite Muslim rebel
than in the whole war. If they asked for
some tales of refugees and Iraqi deserters
U.S. soldiers at this northernmost obser-
that erupted March 4 following the end of
forces, which had fluttered on top of a
volunteers, there is not a man here who
who have fled toward the Kuwaiti border
vation post deep inside occupied Iraqi ter-
the gulf war.
white onion-shaped water tower, were
would not go north to finish the job.
over the past week from a brutal govern-
ritory watched in horror and frustration
Among those treated were adults with
gone.
"There isn't a soldier here who does not
ment crackdown on central and southern,
on Thursday as Iraqi troops loyal to Pres-
The next day, all the U.S. troops could
want to finish it. They hate this," he said,
severed limbs, two or three small children
Iraqi towns.
ident Saddam Hussein attacked the town
do was receive the wounded civilians.
expressing the torment felt by many
An 18-month-old girl was "shot with a
with their hands and fingers blown off,
of Samawah, about a mile across the de-
There were at least 40, mostly women
American servicemen who, amid a de-
pistol in her chest, up close enough for a
according to Sgt. Dickson Figueroa, 27, a
marcation line.
and children, victims not only of shell-
clared peace in the Persian Gulf War,
powder burn," said Capt. Daniel Miller,
medic. Miller said an 8-year-old girl had
Republican Guard troops fired tank
ing-random barrages meant to kill and
must sit passively as they watch enemy
29, from Toledo. A man, shot in the head,
metal fragments in her back.
rounds into a hospital, used Soviet-made
terrorize-but of shootings at point-blank
Iraqi troops kill trapped civilians.
arrived with a bullet embedded in his jaw.
Survivors from Samawah told the Amer-
helicopters to strafe the town and shelled
range.
The accounts of the soldiers, stationed
"We have had little kids brought to us,
icans that most males above age 12 who
hundreds of civilians huddled in dry
"It's very hard sitting here, not being
on the rim of the Euphrates Valley-about
shot in the back, and women," said Isom,
See TROOPS, A20, Col. 1
Photo Copy Preservation
U.S. Troops Watch Iraqi Attack on Town in Horror
TROOPS, From A1
were still in the town when the loy-
alist troops attacked were killed.
Some managed to escape, sneaking
out from Bedouin camps on the west-
ern edge of the railroad to the 55-
mile stretch through the desert to
the southbound highway.
Drawing parallels with the tactics
of the German Gestapo security
forçes in Nazi Germany, Miller and
Isom explained the action of Repub-
lican Guards taking over Iraqi cities:
"They come if the town is unclean,
meaning it is not pro-Saddam. It is
defiled by the rebels," said Miller.
Continued Isom, "If you are not them
[the Republican Guards], you are
unclean, and the only way to clean
you is to kill you.".
"We cannot comprehend how sol-
diers can behave like that, go in and
kill everyone over 12," said Isom.
"These men are not soldiers. It is
almost like genocide."
Late Friday, as a blazing red sun
set behind the barren desert land-
scape west of Samawah, resistance
ASSOCIATED PRESS
American medic tends to eye injury of Iraqi girl as her mother comforts her.
fighters and distraught young men
were wandering aimlessly away from
their hometown, scavenging for wa-
artillery and advanced into town with
pains and said they did not want their
ter and food.
heavy armor. "They were out of am-
men who had fled or been taken pris-
Abbas Musa, 25, a resistance
munition and outgunned. You don't
oner to return because Saddam
fighter, headed out amid a cluster of
fight tanks and artillery with rifles,"
wanted to kill them.
men staggering by the side of the
said Miller, commander of infantry
The oil refinery of Samawah was
dirt road. "They burned our homes,
troops of the Army's 3rd Squadron,
one of the first targets hit by allied
Please find us a solution. We are
2nd Cavalry Regiment.
forces in the air war that began Jan.
dead men here. We will commit sui-
On Tuesday and Wednesday, So-
17 and was hit repeatedly by U.S.
cide if we cannot reach Safwan and
viet-made H-18 helicopters firing
B-52s and British Tornados. Giant
leave Iraq," he pleaded.
rockets were used against Samawah
rusting oil tanks were squashed and
"Our children were slaughtered in
residents. "We could have used our
crumpled like old shoes, black pools
the streets. When they saw a child
own helicopters to take them out,"
of drying, sticky oil stained the caked
running, they shelled. We are wait-
he remarked. "We could hear them
earth. Gaping craters gouged the
ing for the mercy of God. They were
come over our heads.'
grounds.
dumping explosive charges from hel-
"It increased in intensity for the
An unexploded 500-pound bomb
icopters on the arcaded souk near
big push. There was a mounting cre-
dropped by a Tornado was stuck in
Kabir Street. They spewed out
scendo of small-arms fire. Then they
the sand, as children played a few
flames like fountains,' he said.
shelled it through the night from bat-
feet away. All along the highway to
"What happened in Kuwait is now
teries just north of the river. It was
the Kuwaiti border, men continued
happening in Iraq," said Musa's cous-
over by about three in the after-
in. Abed, a high-school student. "Find
noon," said Miller.
us a solution. We are dying."
Recalled Isom, "several hundred
Another young man complained
people were living in the fields, in
EUROPE
bitterly, "Allied planes were hover-
the ditches. They were shelled. We
A:
ing above, but they did nothing. Our
saw it. People were living there in
to turn themselves in to allied forces
tents and tarps."
as prisoners of war.
fate is unknown. We are in the
throes of a catastrophe. We have no
They fired at the hospital twice.
"There cannot be anything more
Tigris
rights but famine, poverty and ex-
We were watching them shell the
miserable than this," said Abed Mut-
TURKEY
ecutions in the streets. What is our
train station and other small houses.
taleb, 25, from the back of a truck
AFRICA
future?"
This was simply designed to kill ci-
carrying POWs. "Our future is black.
Sabbar Abbas said he preferred to
We are in a lamentable situation and
Dohuk
vilians or terrorize them, which it
be a prisoner of troops in the allied
did. It did not have a military pur-
just looking for hope," said the young
coalition that defeated Iraq in the
man, who had been training to be-
Mosul
pose, just artillery impacts on large
Euphrates
come a teacher.
Irbil
gulf war than to remain in his
concentrations of civilians.
present condition. "We want to be
"You could see the concrete com-
Others were more despairing. "If
SYRIA
0
you don't take me, just shoot me,"
Tigris
Kirkuk
free, if only for one day," he said.
ing out of the roofs. They shoot at a
MILE:
Haidar Qazem Ghali, an Iraqi
target until they hit it, and then they
one deserting Iraqi officer told Sgt.
Tikrit
deserter from Najaf who had turned
move to something else."
Scott Dixon of Provo, Utah. The of-
himself in to allied forces as a POW,
Pointing to a distant bridge, Isom
ficer said his family had been killed.
Euphrates
stood up in the back of the truck,
said, "There were hundreds of peo-
At checkpoint Zulu, where a
leaned over and asked, "Can we
ple living in the underpass. When the
steady flux of about 6,000 refugees a
day had tapered to 673 by Friday
Baghdad
IR
know what is at the end of the road
shelling started, they flooded to us.
IRAQ
for Saddam? So we can still have a
We had to be careful to tell them this
evening, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Santy
drop of hope after we have left our
place is not permanent.'
described how a father had brought
Karbala
families behind. Is there a solution?"
The soldiers at the oil refinery
his four sons to be taken as prisoners
The battle for control of Sa-
said that at one point, 3,000 people
in order to survive.
Najaf
mawah. one of the last Shiite rebel
came to hide in their midst. When
"The father and the sons cried.
Samawah
strongholds to fall in the Euphrates
U.S. soldiers tried to distribute food,
You think you had seen it all. But
River sector, raged for three days
leftovers from their own meals, they
when you see this every day, you go
were almost mobbed.
through a roller coaster of emotions.
Basra
until the town fell Thursday.
Resistance fighters tried to hold
Women dressed in black chadors
If I had my choice, I would let all
their ground with rifles and small
swarmed around a medic, begging
these people go to another country. I
Iragi territory
KUWAI
machine guns against loyalist troops
for medicine. They complained of
do not want to think about what may
controlled by
OK
who pounded their positions with
hunger, headaches and stomach
happen if they go back to Iraq,"
coalition forces
Santy said. "Some of these are really
SAUDI ARABIA
super people. Doctors, teachers, sci-
entists fleeing the regime. If Saddam
BRAD WYE-THE W
remains in power, these people will
be destroyed. I don't see Saddam
spoke some English begged for cig-
A friend, standing ne:
letting these people live, do you?"
arettes to help him through the
complained, "The world h
As the deadline approaches for the
night. "I am very tired, came here
signing of a formal cease-fire that
science. We are carrying
in the middle of the night with six
would permit their departure, many
den for the crimes of one
children and a wife," he said. "I go
American soldiers are agonizing over
with you to America. To hell with
Meanwhile, Miller lou
the fate of people they have met, and
Iraq.
on the Iraqi refugees. "S
fear that villagers they have helped
When asked in Arabic what had
adults is one thing. But
will be punished when they are gone.
happened in Samawah, the man
see the little children, sit
"If we leave, will they live?" asked
broke down in tears. He spat on the
crying and bleeding, you
Isom, as women clutching children
ground, cursed Saddam and took an
and take care of them."
giggled shyly and asked for medicine
Iraqi five-dinar bill and tore it to
There is little he can S:
and water in the narrow passage-
shreds. "Go see the tragedy in Sa-
their pain. "I tell them, the
ways snaking through the refinery.
mawah," he yelled. "The Americans
to free Kuwait, it was n
A 52-year-old oil surveyor who
are against us, you know."
Iraq. That's the way it is.'
Photo Copy Preservation
From Vietnam
To Iraq: The
Great American
Syndrome Myth
Bush's rapid decline in the polls. But the
decline did not continue; during the balance
of 1990 Bush's support gradually returned
to its pre-crisis level.
The trend in approval also shows a sec-
ond rally in mid-January, coinciding with the
start of the air war on Jan. 16. As is typical,
the rally was fueled by public uncertainty, in
this case about whether the build-up was
sufficient and whether the air war would
achieve its goals. Virtually overnight, about
20 percentage points were added to Pres-
ident Bush's support; now eight Americans
in 10 approved of the president.
Moreover, after the fractious debate in
Congress ended with majority support for
the use of military force, a new bipartisan
consensus in support of the war option
formed, and criticism of the president's pol-
icy all but disappeared. Of course, the actual
success of the air war and the stunningly
swift victory after the ground war began
were not lost on the public.
n the face of the current levels of public
support, how can we maintain that noth-
ing has changed? Currently the breadth
of support for the president is without pre-
cedent, but the processes by which the
American people formed their collective
impression of how well George Bush is han-
dling his job are quite familiar.
Indeed, the public appears to be arriving
at its judgment of Bush in a manner iden-
tical to the way in which the public reached
its judgments of every president since FDR.
This does not mean that the president must
lose support over the balance of his term. It
does mean that the public will change its
opinion in accord with the strength or weak-
ness of the economy and other indications
of policy success or failure-whether at
home or abroad. Neither this nor future
By Richard A. Brody and Richard Morin
administrations should be misled that a
mandate for an aggressive foreign policy
has emerged from the victory in the gulf.
"T
HE VIETNAM syndrome is dead!" cry the hired:
guns of the right and left. And from these well-:
stirred rhetorical ashes now arises a new, more:
aggressive and more muscular vision of America's:
new place in the world, a vision consistent with yellow ribbons,
smart bombs and 100-hour ground wars.
Call it the Iraq syndrome.
This new view sees America writ large across the face of the
world. Mothball "kinder and gentler.' What the country wants,
these neo-Rambos argue, is a restructured and decidedly more-
assertive U.S. foreign policy-the perfect chaser to the near-
perfect war that marked America's full recovery from the mal-,
aise of Vietnam.
In fact, there never was a Vietnam syndrome. Nor will history:
likely record an Iraq syndrome. Contrary to the conventional
wisdom currently under construction, this country's big win in:
war as an instrument of foreign policy. And
like any policy instrument, support for war
increases and decreases with the impres-
sion that it is being used in the right way.
Consider, for example, the trend in sup-
port for Bush from July 1990 to the most
recent polls. In the weeks before the Aug. 2
invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Bush's "handling
of his job as president" was approved by
about six Americans in 10. The onset of the
gulf crisis added about 12 percentage points
to the president's support in most national
polls. During August and early September,
three Americans in four expressed their
The first month of the crisis was a typical
"rally" situation: News about the gulf was
dominated by stories about the deployment
of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, the bringing
of other nations into the region in opposi-
tion to Iraq. Senate and House leadership
was openly supportive.
On Sept. 14-six weeks into the crisis-
Bush addressed a joint session of Congress.
House majority leader Richard Gephardt
(D-Mo.) gave a Democratic "response" con-
sidered to be generally supportive of the
president. At the same time, however, re-
ports of concerns expressed by Democratic
and Republican members surfaced.
Hearings began and cautious criticisms
were voiced by Democrats including Sen.
Sam Nunn (D-Ga.). As chairman of the
Armed Services Committee, Nunn is the
kind of spokesperson to whom the public
looks for opinion leadership. But these cau-
tious voices did not get much attention.
The pace of criticism then picked up and
the elite consensus began to crumble. By
Sept. 20, criticism was an important theme
in press reports. Also during mid-
September, the gulf coverage became rou-
tinized. Other stories-notably those about
the deficit and the bipartisan compromise
that failed on Capitol Hill-contributed to
the gulf has not occasioned a sea-change in American public opin-
ion on foreign policy, just as the Vietnam War did little to alter.
approval of Bush.
the public's fundamentally cautious view of the military as a pol-
icy tool.
As a characterization of American public opinion toward for-
eign policy, the Vietnam syndrome argues that after 1975 the
American public turned inward, against intervention, against the
use of force to protect vital interests of the United States. Or
more succinctly, in the words of Dov S. Zakheim, a former dep-
uty undersecretary of defense in the Reagan Administration, the
syndrome entailed a reluctance to engage in any overseas
operations and to provide the wherewithal to do so."
It is more than a quibble to point out that, since long before
Vietnam, Americans have been reluctant to support overseas
military operations. George Washington warned in his farewell
address of the dangers of "overgrown military establishments"
and foreign alliances, and those fears have endured to this day.
Wars, of course, are usually more com-
In 1941, for example, Americans were deeply divided over the
plicated phenomena with respect to their
effect on public opinion. For one thing, they
tend to last longer than other foreign policy
crises. In a war the public has time to be-
come less dependent on the standard opin-
ion molders for views. Media attention
to war increases public knowledge of the
situation and, with that, its capacity to judge
the handling of the war as a matter of public
This is to say, public support during war
is informed by perceptions of policy success
or failure. Public awareness of the stale-
mate of arms in Korea and the failure in
Vietnam eroded support for those wars and
for Presidents Truman and Johnson. The
length of the wars also provides time for the
elite consensus to break down. The emer-
gence of dissent among the political elite
during Korea and Vietnam accelerated the
slide in public support.
But there is no evidence that Vietnam
produced a fundamental change in the way
in which Americans form their impressions
about foreign policy and the desirability of
using military power as a policy instrument.
On the contrary, the favorable public reac-
tion to the military interventions in Grenada
and Panama fits right in with historical pat-
It remains one of the ironies of the Pan-
business, not ours. Similarly, in the spring of 1963, the vast ma-
terns of response.;
ama invasion that a big majority of Amer-
icans told Gallup politakers two months be-
question of whether we should oppose Japan militarily; many
fore Bush sent troops south that they would
disapprove of any effort to overthrow Pan-
amanian leader Manuel Noriega. Yet just
days after the invasion-after it became
clear that our intervention had been suc-
cessful-Gallup reported that an equally
large majority said they approved of Bush's
strongly believed that the war in Europe was that continent's
decision to topple Noriega.
Americans may be reluctant to go to war
but they are, in the main, not opposed to
policy.
jority of the public rejected the notion that U.S. troops should be
used to oust the Castro regime in Cuba.
In fact, it is this determined reluctance on the part of Amer-
icans that prompted the Eisenhower administration to push for
tactical nuclear weapons as a means of countering the Soviets
conventional threat in Europe, thus hoping to avoid the politically
indelicate necessity of sending U.S. troops overseas.
America does not like to put its youth in harm's way. Not sur-
prisingly, Vietnam did nothing to change that preference. Nor
has Iraq produced huge majorities eager to volunteer America
for duty as the world's cop.
President Bush may wax semi-eloquent on our principled de-
See SYNDROME B2, CoL 1
emerged during the Vietnam War does not,
however, preclude support for war once
fighting has begun, at least at the outset.
Like World War II and Korea, Vietnam be-
gan with large majorities of the public and
political elite agreeing that war was the
right policy under the circumstances. In a
word, the onset of the three wars, like many
crisis situations before and after, "rallied"
ooking at what causes Americans to
rally around their president tells us
much about what really shapes public
Richard Brody is professor of political science at Stanford
University. Richard Morin is director of polling at The
Washington Post.
The Syndrome Myth
public support.
attitudes on foreign policy. Under the
threat of a breakdown in international or-
der, the public appears bewildered; its sup-
port for policy and policymakers tends to be
determined less by a personal judgment of
the likely success of policy than by the re-
actions of politicians, pundits and other
opinion leaders. Two conditions are thus
necessary and sufficient to arouse public
support: The first is public uncertainty
about the crisis events; the second is con-
sensus among opinion-makers in support of
presidential actions in dealing with the cri-
If one or both of these conditions are ab-
sent, a crisis will not rally public opinion.
When both conditions are absent, the "anti-
rally" effect can be dramatic. In November
1986, the revelations of the Iran-contra
dealings, the policy that sought to respond
to public frustrations over the holding of
American hostages, cost President Reagan
about 25 percent of his public support. This
dramatic drop was caused by public certain-
ty that exchanging arms for hostages was
wrong and ineffective combined with at-
tacks on the policy by a bipartisan elite.
sis.
pros-
a
any attempted Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
time when Americans continued to reel in
-gulf-induced giddiness, also found that six
out of 10 persons surveyed didn't want the
"world affairs generally. True, three out of
four also expect the United States now will
be more willing to use military force to re-
solve international squabbles in a way favor-
is
that
SYNDROME, From B1
fense of a tiny (albeit oil-rich) country over-
run by its much larger neighbor, but his
admiring public expresses no interest in the
United States becoming the protective big
brother to every bullied small country
interests-but
around the globe.
Quite the opposite. A new Washington
Post poll found that fewer than a third of
1,015 persons questioned recently said they
would support using U.S. troops to defend
South Korea if that nation were invaded by
North Korea. A similarly small proportion
supported sending in the marines to thwart
And only about one in four said they
would support using U.S. troops if the So-
Sviet Union used military force to stop inde-
bendence movements in Lithuania or other.
That snapshot of public opinion, taken at
Baltic states.
"United States to take a more active role in
U.S.
pect that more than half of those polls ac-
knowledged worries, not elates, them.
Similarly, a poll released last week by the
bipartisan Americans Talk Issues founda-
tion reported that most Americans believed
the United States should not work alone but
with the United Nations and other countries
to
to keep the international peace.
The historical reluctance to commit
American troops to foreign wars that re-
able
Photo Copy Preservation
Iraq: Despotism Amid the Kuins
debts.
In a statement Friday in Gene-
va, the International Committee of
Saddam Clings to Control of a Society Shatttereaby Battle
p.A19
the Red Cross warned of "a public
health catastrophe of immense
WPOST 3-9-91
proportions" due to the shortage of
clean drinking water because of
By Glenn Frankel
the destruction of Iraq's water pu-
Washington Post Foreign Service
rification plants. It predicted a
LONDON-Iraq is emerging
"dramatic increase" in potentially
from a relentless battering by
fatal diarrhea among malnourished
allied forces and a bloody internal
children and the growing risk of
uprising as a shattered nation. Its
epidemics as spring temperatures
economy and infrastructure are
rise.
crippled; its civilian population is
Looking at the scale of destruc-
devastated, yet its despotic ruler
tion, many analysts had predicted
still clings to power.
the imminent fall of Saddam. As
With hundreds of thousands of
late as March 27, President Bush
Iraqi refugees in flight from their
said: "It seems unlikely he can sur-
own government, President Sad-
vive. I don't know how long it will
dam Hussein is holding on with
take. People are fed up with him.
the same ruthless tenacity that
They see him for the brutal dicta-
loyalist forces who survived the
tor he is."
Persian Gulf War have shown in
But less than two weeks later,
crushing Shiite Muslim and Kur-
Saddam's hold on power seems
dish revolts against him and
secure-at least for the short
slaughtering suspected rebels and
run-and he has routed the rebels
their families.
even though much of his army's
Western relief workers and
heavy equipment was destroyed in
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
journalists have described scenes
the war and many of his soldiers
Iraqi refugees watch as planes parachute relif supplies in Turkey.
of destruction and killing that
fled or defected. Nonetheless,
echo the horrified, emotional ac-
Western intelligence sources say
fresh that no reliable estimates
other 00,000 and believes a mil-
counts of fleeing Iraqis.
Saddam has been able to rely on a
have yet emerged.
lion mce are en route.
"Everything is destroyed," Jean-
hard core of 40,000 to 50,000 Re-
The pattern of the revolt was
Louis Macheron, of the French aid
In suthern Iraq, about 40,000
publican Guard troops, centered
similar in both places. Rebels
group Pharmaciens sans Fron-
refuges have fled to camps inside
around Baghdad and his home base
would move into lightly guarded
tieres [Pharmacists Without Bor-
Iran. Aother 15,000 to 25,000
of Tikrit. Those troops were used
cities, free political prisoners, then
who cresied into American-occu-
ders], told the Reuter news agency
to put down the Shiite uprising,
mete out retribution against secu-
after a visit to the southern city of
pied teritory now face the pros-
then were quickly transported
rity officials and alleged collabo-
Karbala, one of many demolished
pect of again coming under Sad-
north to fight the Kurds.
rators. In the southern city of Na-
centers of Shiite insurgency. "In
dam's rile when allied forces pull
Drawing a parallel with Nazi
sariyah, witnesses said, the rebels
out.
the streets, you only see cars with
Germany, British military historian
hanged the mayor in the town
coffins in them."
At tle U.S.-run refugee camp
John Keegan noted that by mid-
square after gouging out his eyes
In a country that remains closed
near Sawan on the Kuwaiti bor-
1944, Hitler had lost two-fifths of
and cutting off his nose. Others
der, reugees are threatening to
his army in Normandy and Russia
off to most foreigners, hard figures
were reportedly decapitated,
and firm intelligence are impossi-
throw temselves under tanks to
yet still managed to suppress three
Government buildings were de-
ble to come by. But using sketchy
force the Americans to take them
simultaneous uprisings by Polish,-
stroyed and warehouses looted.
information provided by aid work-
to Kuwit or Saudi Arabia. The
Slovak and French resistance
Anything that symbolized Sad-
forces-confounding those who
ers, journalists and other wit-
Bush adhinistration, responding to
dam's rule-from public records
centers to posters of the Iraqi lead-
such plas, pledged Sunday that
believed his army near collapse.
nesses, as well as by Western dip-
lomats and intelligence sources, it
er-was defaced or obliterated.
Iraqi relgees in the U.S.-occupied
"What they forgot is that if the
The loyalist Republican Guard
zone in outhern Iraq would be giv-
will of a dictator holds and his
is possible to begin to assess the
amount of damage done to Iraq as
counterattacked with equal brutal-
en sanctary if they requested it.
homeland remains intact, he can
well as to analyze how Saddam has
ity and much greater firepower,
The dmage to Iraq's infrastruc-
piece together a new army out of
witnesses said, using artillery and
ture has been massive. Ahmed
what appears to be a ruin," Keegan
maintained his grip on the country.
heavy armor and lobbing shells
Chalibi, banker and spokesman
wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
Senior U.S. military officials
have said that up to 100,000 Iraqi
into civilian residential areas. In
for Iraqi ipposition groups who is
"That is just what Hitler did. That
is what Saddam has done."
soldiers may have died during the
Samawah, American troops across
familiar with internal Iraqi data,
The other factor in Saddam's
gulf war-as many as 60,000 to
the cease-fire line watched the
estimatesthat 80 percent of the
success was political, Iraqi analysts
80,000 in the air campaign, plus
slaughter in disbelief as wounded
country's electricity generating
say. The Shiites and Kurds togeth-
another 15,000 to 25,000 in the
men, women and children strug-
stations and 75 percent of its oil
er account for nearly 80 percent of
ground offensive. U.S. officials
gled through their lines. At one
refining coacity has been de-
Iraq's population of 18 million, but
caution that these estimates are,
point, patients with catheters and
stroyed, alog with its entire tele-
they were never able to win sup-
at this point, just guesses. Iraqi of-
intravenous tubes still attached to
communicators network and 52
port from the Sunni elite that
ficials have estimated that 7,000
their bodies limped through the
major bridges. Roads, railways and
forms the base of Saddam's power.
civilians died during the air cam-
lines after shells hit their hospital.
factories have all been devastated,
To the contrary, according to an
paign.
Huge portions of the Iraqi pop-
as have every airfield and the
informed Iraqi political scientist,
Thousands more have died by
ulation are now on the move. Tur-
country's mis port facility at
even those Sunni military com-
Iraqi hands in the Shiite and Kur-
kish officials estimated yesterday
Basra.
manders who are disenchanted
dish rebellions. Estimates by op-
that more than 300,000 Kurds and
Iraq's ownestimate of $100 bil-
with Saddam's government were
position groups of those killed dur-
other refugees had crossed into
lion in damage is not far off the
prepared to put down the uprisings
ing the month-long civil warfare in
Turkey, with many thousands
mark, according to Chalibi, who
because they saw the revolts as a
southern Iraq range anywhere
more waiting to enter. Iran said
assessed total camage to infra-
threat to Iraq's future as a unified
from 30,000 to 100,000. The
Sunday it has admitted 300,000
structure at $$Obillion, plus $20
country and to their own survival.
fighting in the Kurdish north is SO
Kurds, is preparing to process an-
billion in lost oil evenues and $9
The Kurds have also posed a
conundrum for other Iraqis. De-
200
spite Kurdish protestations that
0
MILES
KURDISH
they sought democracy and polit-
Hundreds of thousands of Krdish
ical autonomy, many Iraqi Arabs
distrust the Kurds and consider
refugees have fled into Turke.and Iran
TURKEY
and nearly one million Kurdis refugees
them a separatist movement more
have gathered near the Turkis and
interested in autonomy than in top-
Iranian borders.
pling Saddam. Even at the height of
AKURDISH
the Kurdish rebellion, Iraqi sources
Mosul
maintain, Massoud Barzani and oth-
The European Community
er Kurdish leaders conducted ne-
voted yesterday to back a
rbil
Tigris
IRAN
gotiations on autonomy with Sad-
British plan for a Kurdish
dam's emissaries.
enclave in northern Iraq, which
Kirkuk
Now that the army's command-
would provide for Kurdish
ers have crushed the Kurds, some
refugees. The European leaders
believe they will turn their atten-
also voted to send $180
Euphrates
tion to Saddam himself. But while
million in urgent economic aid
the infrastructure of Saddam's
to the Turkish and Iranian
elaborate network of informers has
border areas.
been weakened, many Iraqis still
IRAQ
fear his power and his reach. Some
Baghdad
believe the regular army will re-
main on the sidelines.
Karbala
THE
Saddam's short-term strategy
appears clear, Iraqi analysts say.
The DMZ is 6 miles wide
JORDAN
By accepting U.N. terms for a per-
on Iraqi side and 3 miles
manent cease-fire Saturday, he
wide on Kuwaitiside.
SAUDI ARABIA
hopes to rid Iraq of foreign inter-
vention, end economic sanctions
Nasiriyah
and begin rebuilding his damaged
Shatt al
power base. By reshuffling his cab-
U.S.-held territory
Basra
Arab
inet, making vague promises of
Safwan
multi-party democracy and offering
conditional amnesty to his foes, he
EUROPE
SOUTHERN
ASIA
hopes to lessen popular pressure
The United States is discussing with the
Persion
on his government at home.
Gulf
IRAQ
United Nations and the International
But few in Iraq view the govern-
Red Cross a plan to move as many as
KUWAIT
ment's concessions as anything
40,000 Iraqis now in the U.S.-occupied
other than window dressing de-
zone in southern Iraq into a camp at
signed to help protect Saddam until
AFRICA
Safwan. This sanctuary would lie in the
he feels strong enough to assert
demilitarized zone created as part of the
total control. And analysts warn
final cease fire accords.
that the myth of Saddam-his aura
as a survivor and his reputation for
Photo Copy Preservation
A16 MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1991
THE WASHINGTON POST
U.S. Troops in Gulf Set Sights on Home
By Rick Atkinson
The prevailing sentiment can be seen in sol-
fighters destroyed two weeks ago were downed
Washington Post Staff Writer
diers' T-shirts that read, "If I Were An Iraqi POW,
by his squadron, which tallied eight other air-to-
KHARJ AIR BASE, Saudi Arabia, March 31-
I'd Be Home By Now," or the "Free Kuwait" signs
air kills during the war.
It's 2 a.m. on Easter morning and Lt. Col. Randy
on which the name of the liberated emirate has
Current operations, however, consist of flying
Bigum is driving home from work. He noses his
been crossed out and replaced with the phrase,
90 minutes north, patroling Iraqi air space and
F-15C fighter off the taxiway and back toward
"U.S. Servicemen Trapped in Saudi Arabia."
then flying 90 minutes south.
"the stadium," an immense, horseshoe-shaped
Airmen here have lampooned a new safety
Bigum's pilots can see many Iraqi army hel-
concrete berm: that shelters some of the 100
slogan-"Not One More Life"-by scribbling on
icopters operating against the rebels but are un-
planes parked along the busy flight line here.
their billet doors, "Not One More Day.'
der orders only to shoot at high-performance
Raising the canopy and climbing from the
"Should we get involved in the Kurdish rebel-
jets; pilots interviewed appear to have no appe-
cockpit, the squadron commander eventually
lion?" Lt. Col. Robert Purple, the base command-
tite for intruding into the fight below.
wends his way to the plywood warren that
er here said this afternoon. "The world can't
Of his Easter patrol, Bigum said: "The only
houses his flight operations center. With a smile
make up its mind, so why should a serviceman at
interesting thing is watching the oil fires in Ku-
and a shrug, he sums up the evening's mission, a
Kharj want to?
We're in 'Desert Calm,' wait-
wait. It looks like a giant birthday cake."
three-hour combat patrol north of Baghdad:
ing for political acts by the United Nations and
Bigum said he has urged his pilots and support
"Boring."
others."
personnel not to let complacency cause acci-
Behind him, Capt. Tom Dietz, credited with
Some soldiers stationed along the Euphrates
dents. "But it's hard to keep them as focused on
shooting down three Iraqi fighters during Oper-
River Valley express frustrated outrage at the
the mission as we were" before the fighting.
steady stream of wounded or hungry women and
ended, he admits.
ation Desert Storm, concurs with an echo: "Bor-
ing."
children fleeing south from southern Iraqi cities
More than 4,000 Air Force personnel still live
Based on interviews conducted throughout the
attacked by forces loyal to President Saddam
in these vast tent cities, only a 20 percent reduc-
region over the past month, the several hundred
Hussein in a bid to crush rebels there. A number
tion from the wartime peak. Commanders are
thousand U.S. servicemen and women still serv-
express regret that Saddam's forces were not
trying to give their troops more time for quick
ing in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait appear
completely pulverized before President Bush
excursions to Riyadh, Bahrain or some of the
largely to see the intensifying debate over the
imposed a cease-fire Feb. 28.
local attractions, such as a dairy farm billed as
the world's largest. Predictably, the troops have
proper U.S. role in the insurrections being at-
But it seems the majority of the troops simply
invented some of their own entertainments, such
tempted in Iraq as remote, abstract and second-
want to leave the desert before yet another hol-
as the First Annual Sand Trout Fishing Tourna-
ary to the more vital interest of going home
iday passes at home without them. Few have a
ment, held today in a bone-dry irrigation ditch.
soon.
detailed grasp of the politics of Iraq's civil strife;
"Everybody here is a volunteer-not to come
Whether seen from a cockpit 20,000 feet over
at most U.S. bases, news is both skimpy and
here, but to be in the service. They all took an
Baghdad or from this still-bustling base an hour
stale by the time it reaches the troops.
oath," said Purple, the base commander. "Some-
southeast of Riyadh, many soldiers, sailors and
Many only know, as one pilot here put it Sat-
times you have to remind them of the oath they
airmen seem offended by loyalist Iraqi troops'
urday, that "it's taking the United Nations longer
took.
attacks on Shiite Muslim and Kurdish civilians—
to draft the peace than it took us to win the war."
"At some point you have to say to yourself,
and utterly disinterested in retaliating or step-
Bigum's 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron has
'I'm in Saudi Arabia, this is as good as it's going
ping further into the potential quagmire of Mid-
been among the Air Force's busiest before, dur-
to get, and I'm here for the indefinite future.'
dle Eastern politics.
ing and after the Persian Gulf War. Both Iraqi
And you've got to come to peace with yourself."
Iraqi Deserters, Civilians Turn to Americans for Help WPOST
another checkpoint farther west. About 60 are
scooped up a 6-month-old child lying next to its
By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
arriving each day, he said, and 251 smiling pris-
dead mother, but that the baby later died.
oners were driven from Safwan to Saudi Arabia
The refugees' claims could not indepen-
NEAR SAFWAN, Iraq, March 24-"I want to
today aboard trucks with a U.S. military escort.
dently verified.
be prisoner," Abdel Jawad Jassem told an Amer-
As two Iraqis approached slowly from the di-
Guardsman Dixon said one father brought his 4-
ican officer here after walking through the
rection of Basra, one of them, Hamad Jabbar Ali,
year-old child, suffering from hird-degree burns,
desert from Basra.
27, said: "I am a soldier. The Republican Guards
to be treated by U.S. doctors.
Until this morning, Jassem'was an Iraqi sol-
are looking for us. They want to execute us.
Because of the limited medical facilities at the
dier. But he deserted, he said, because his com-
In fact, Ali later explained, he had not been
U.S. military checkpoints inside Iraq; the most
manders in Basra threatened to kill him if he did
soldier for 2½ years-not since he and his com-
seriously injured Iraqis needed to be evacuated
not fire at homes in that southern Iraqi port city.
panion, Ali Nayef Duheiry, deserted and joined the
to hospitals, Dixon said, but "the military system
"If I go back to Basra, they will execute me
Iraqi resistance. The two men claimed that the
won't med-evac civilians. Our systemican't han-
because I deserted. I was born there. I did not
resistance was made up mainly of army deserters.
dle it. This kid has serious injuries and there is
want to shoot at my people," he said, holding up a
Soldiers and civilians fleeing Basra said efforts
not a lot that can be done. They really need the
yellow military identification card.
there by insurgents to break free from the rule of
Red Cross," he said. Some wounded civilians
Jassem was one of hundreds of Iraqis who
President Saddam Hussein had been crushed, de-
have, however, been flown out from other areas.
have fled to U.S.-held territory to escape fight-
spite an attack by rebels with machine guns
The International Committee of the Red Cross
ing that has raged for three weeks between loy-
against troops at the Sheraton Hotel on Saturday.
is waiting for an invitation from the Iraqi govern-
alist troops and insurgents in several cities and
After weeks of fighting, the town of Nasiriyah,
ment to enter areas ravaged by the Persian Gulf
towns in southern Iraq.
about 110 miles south of Baghdad, also has fallen
War and subsequent fighting between troops and
under the control of Iraq's Republican Guard,
rebels.
Speaking sadly of a rebellion they now say has
As they struggle to cope with the aftermath of
been crushed, civilians carrying injured children
according to dozens of refugees who said hun-
dreds of families had abandoned their homes and
their swift victory over Iraq in the;gulf war,
milled about with the soldiers who had refused to
camped in the relative safety of the wilderness.
some U.S. troops say, they are still twary of the
fire on them, asking medical treatment and ref-
"The resistance is finished," said Amira Hamid,
Iraqi troops positioned farther up theroad to Na-
uge of Americant troops manning positions here.
30, a mother of eight who fled here during the
siriyah. They keep a careful eye on their adver-
One Iraqi deserter said, "If you don't take me,
night by boat and van from Tannuman. Located
saries, even tracking their movements at night
just shoot me," according to Sgt. Scott Dixon, a
across the Shatt al Arab waterway from Basra,
through thermal gunsights.
National Guardsman from Provo, Utah, who
Tannuman was the last stronghold of Shiite Mus-
"From this position, I can see shooting every
questioned arriving Iraqis in rudimentary Arabic.
lims seeking to overthrow Saddam, she said.
night going across the road. I can see them, but I
Dixon said all of the Iraqi soldiers arriving at
"We crossed the Shatt [toward Basra] in tour-
can't go chase them," one U.S. officer said.
his checkpoint "are really traumatized" and want
ist boats," Hamid said; holding two of her eight
Spec. Joseph McGee, 22, used:the sights on
a one-way ticket out of Iraq.
children in the back of a van she hired for 60
his Bradley Fighting Vehicle to observe Iraqi po-
"It's not like we have to chase them up and
Iraqi dinars-$180 at the official exchange rate,
sitions only a mile away.
down. They sort of show up," said Lt. Col. Mi-
"People are leaving and loading up their belong-
He said the most unusual thing he-had spotted
chael Deegan, 42, of Boston. He said some Iraqi
ings on boats, and then finding their way out of
in the last few days was a busload of men and wo-
soldiers who were "visibly shaken and very, very
Basra by car."
men who stopped to change clothes before head-
afraid" told him that they were chased by a tank
Refugees from Nasiriyah claimed government
ing in his direction. "Soldiers got out; changed
division. Some of them had been injured.
troops had fired four Scud missiles at their town
clothes and tried to get through the checkpoint.
Eighteen deserters had showed up at Deegan's
and that hundreds of victims were lying in the
We took them as POWs; and sent the women on
position by this afternoon, and 12 more were at
streets. Mohammed Hassan Abdi said he
their merry way," he chuckled.
Photo Copy Preservation
Plugs
By Garry Trudeau
"Hey, Stormin" Norman! You've
just annihilated the fourth largest
army in the world! What are you
going to do now?"
SCHWARZKUH
"I'm going to crack open a Diet
Pepsi."
t was the mother, father and
I
next of kin of all product place-
ments - too insanely great to
be true. And yet there it was.
Clearly visible on the table di-
rectly in front of the com-
mander in chief during the historic
cease-fire ceremony was a lone can
of Diet Pepsi.
As the official pool photo of the
event was beamed around the world
to thousands of newspapers, Pepsico
executives were jubilant. It was the
biggest coup since the live pictures of
U.S. troops watching the Super Bowl
in front of a Pepsi machine.
For Pepsi, it was the culmination of
a hugely successful campaign to as-
sociate its products with the winning
side in the gulf war. True, Pepsi had
enjoyed a regional edge over its chief
competition for some time. In the late
60's, Coca-Cola had been expelled
from the Arab world after opening a
bottling plant in Israel. Pepsi, mean-
while, had shrewdly detoured the
Holy Land and gone on to build 24
plants in the future war zone alone.
So when country called, Pepsi had
the infrastructure. With plants
cranked up for 24-hour production,
Pepsi began producing 12 million
cans a month as part of an exclusive
contract with U.S. forces. Coke could
only look on with horror.
But surely the CINC (commander
in chief) could requisition any bever-
ONE CAL
age he wanted, including The Real
Thing? Did the presence of a Diet
Pepsi can signify an actual prefer-
ence on the part of "God," as he is
affectionately known to his troops?
When pressed, Pepsi executive
0.
PEP
Barry Holt was circumspect. "We
think we have a loyal following in the
General. The best we can piece to-
gether, what with the dryness of the
desert, he's probably got a Diet Pepsi
with him at all times.
Wishful thinking? When I sought
confirmation from a source close to
General Schwarzkopf in Riyadh,
there was a nervous silence on the
line as he contemplated the implica-
tions. When the answer finally came,
it was terse, but unequivocal: The
CINC drinks Diet Pepsi
Eat death, Coke
Garry Trudeau, creator of the comic
strip Doonesbury, is an occasional
contributor to this page.
Photo Copy Preservatio
WPOST
Kuwaiti Cabinet Resignation
3-21-91
Kindles Hopes, Skepticism
KUWAIT, From A23
of water and electricity three weeks
after Kuwait was liberated prompted
the unexpectedly early collapse of
the cabinet, diplomats here said. But
Kuwaitis
Saad denied that the move to form a
new postwar cabinet was prompted
by public pressure or anger, saying
only that "the time was right" for
Hopeful,
""me and my colleagues to submit
the resignation."
Hamad Tuweijri, 34, a business-
man and a member of an interim
Skeptical
50-man National Assembly selected
(last year to revise the constitution,
welcomed steps for renewal but ex-
Cabinet Resignation
pressed skepticism, saying the real
motive was to divert attention from
Widely Applauded
the present shortcomings.
"It was a must to change the gov-
ernment," he said. "They want to
change whatever reminds us of the
By Nora Boustany
Cinvasion. It will be a new government
Washington Post Foreign Service
with new blood. The ministers will
KUWAIT CITY, March 20-The
be younger, more practical, more
resignation of Kuwait's cabinet to-
pragmatic." But he added: "It is a po-
day in the wake of the trauma and
litical game, however. A lot of people
devastation of the Persian Gulf War
are complaining. Now they will talk
has spurred hopes of broad social
about the cabinet for two or three
"weeks."
change and a swifter pace of recon-
struction after three weeks of what
History professor Khaled Wasmi,
is viewed widely here as govern-
an opposition figure and member of
ment lethargy.
the last elected parliament, called
the creation of a new government,
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sheik Jabir Ahmed Sabah, the rul-
ing emir, accepted the resignation of
Gregardless of its makeup, "unconsti-
Kuwaiti Crown Prince Saad Abdullah
"tutional" in the absence of what he
Sabah leaves his residence in
the cabinet of Prime Minister Saad
described as "popular supervision."
Kuwait City after dissolving cabinet.
Abdullah Sabah, who is also the
The revival of democratic polit-
crown prince. Another official told
acal life is a fundamental demand of
that Kuwaitis who remained at home
ambassadors that a new government
'the opposition, most of which does
while others fled abroad now "want
would be formed within a week or 10
not object to preserving the Sabah
to be listened to."
days as hopes mounted that a young-
family at the helm of leadership, but
Nearly half the outgoing cabinet
er, more pragmatic cabinet would
with an elected legislature.
comes from the ruling Sabah fam-
bring more assertive leadership. But
Wasmi said the resignation was
ily-a clan that numbers 350-and
several opposition figures criticized
necessary and a direct result of the
not all of them are popular or held
the dissolution of the cabinet as an
Iraqi invasion, for which the Ku-
in high esteem.
inadequate step toward democracy
waiti people were improperly pre-
Singled out for the harshest crit-
in a country where the elected par-
pared by their leadership. "The gov-
icism has been Defense Minister
liament was dissolved by decree
ernment was defeated on Aug. 2,"
Nawaf Ahmad Sabah, a subject of
five years ago.
he said. "There is no trust. It has to
derision for what many critics see
Despite widespread popular frus-
change."
as his bungling failure to foresee
tration with the government's fail-
After years of being envied by
the dangers of Iraqi military prep-
ure to overcome acute shortages
Arab states as the richest and most
arations last July.
and restore basic services in the
advanced of Persian Gulf commu-
Another unpopular figure is Inte-
aftermath of the seven-month Iraqi
nities, Kuwaitis have had to scrape
rior Minister Salem Sabah Salem,
occupation, observers also said it
by with no currency, water or
who in late 1989 and early 1990
was likely there would be no sub-
lights. For basic food provisions,
used police to disrupt the cherished
stantial change in outlook in the
they have had to rely on an ineffi-
local political ritual of the di-
new cabinet and that it would con-
cient system of cooperatives left
waniya-informal gatherings of men
tinue to be headed by Saad, who has
over from the Iraqi occupation.
before morning and evening prayers
been prime minister for 10 years.
A dense, oily smog from 500
that became forums for debate and
"The captain stays, and the crew
blazing oil wells still hangs over the
consultation.
changes," said outgoing Planning
emirate, darkening its days and ag-
Despite the pressures at home
Minister Suleiman Mutawa, who
gravating the despair of a popula-
and abroad to democratize, howev-
said that the present- ministers
tion that lived through terror, vi-
er, few observers here believe that
would stay caretakers while
plence and pillage.
the liberalization of the system will
Saad forms a new government.
Planning Minister Mutawa said
be a top priority for the new gov-
In Washington, White House Press
the ordeal of the Kuwaitis has com-
ernment. Unresolved issues of se-
Secretary Marlin Fitzwater said that
pelled a hitherto carefree society
curity, the status of resident aliens
the United States had played no role
used to lavish lifestyles to worry
whose loyalty to Kuwait is now be-
in the resignation, but he said he be-
and "think of the future." Everyone
ing questioned and the gargantuan
lieved it could help Kuwait's recov-
is expecting "radical and operational
task of rebuilding will likely take
& ery. Formation of a new govern-
changes," he said.
precedence at least for the next
ment, he said, "can be positive in the
"We have suffered and endured
year or so, diplomats said.
sense of bringing in people who have
hardships, and now we feel we have
The Reuter news agency reported
expertise" in rebuilding:
to look to a new Kuwait with differ-
from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
Mounting criticism of the govern-
ent concepts and a new set of re-
American Red Cross President
ment's inability to do something
sponsibilities," Mutawa said, reflect-
Elizabeth Dole said that the Inter-
about scarce food supplies and lack
ing the view of most "insiders" as
national Committee of the Red
See KUWAIT, A25, Col. 1
they are now known-the third of
Cross has so far handed over to Iraq
Kuwait's population who braved the
about 1,700 Iraqis held as prisoners
peril of Iraqi occupation.
of war by the allies and that about
"After Aug. 2, this is a newborn
1,200 Kuwaitis abducted by Iraq
society, a newborn Kuwait. What we
have been released.
have gone through these seven
According to Red Cross officials
months, wherever you are on the po-
in Riyadh, Dole said, there are
litical-social spectrum, is bound to
about 5,000 Kuwaitis still held in
make you a different man, a different
Iraq but that they would be re-
woman," said Sheik Khaled Nasser
turned soon. Some Kuwaiti officials
Ali Sabah, a cousin three times re-
have put the number as high as
moved of the Sabah rulers. He said
33,000.
Photo Copy Preservation
A24 WEDNESDAY, MARCH
POST
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1991 A21
NEWS
Kuwaiti Banks
To Reopen; New
ika-
Currency Planned
and
ging
re,
Cabinet Resigns as 'First Step
lees
In Putting House in Order'
sin
zes-
are
By William Branigin
Washington Post Foreign Service
KUWAIT CITY, March 19-Kuwait today an-
and
nounced plans to reopen the country's banks Sunday,
indemnify citizens who stayed during Iraq's military
Legal
occupation and issue new, currency to replace more
and
than $2 billion reported stolen by the Iraqis.
emos
not
excess
Kuwait's Cabinet resigned Tuesday in a move in-
tended to bring in new officials as the nation rebuilds
from nearly seven months of Iraqi occupation, the emir-
ters
ate's U.N. ambassador said in New York.
with
Central Bank governor Salem Abdulaziz Sabah shows samples of new
[Ambassador Mohammad Abulhasan said the prime
urns
non 03 quib10008 ileasify
minister submitted the resignations, which were imme-
by
diately accepted by the emir, Jabir Ahmed Sabah, the
by
Associated Press reported. Abulhasan said the new cab-
ut
a
Kuwaiti Banks to Reop
inet should be named in about a week. "This is the first
Genscher, opens cabinet meeting in Bonn yesterday.
step in putting the house in order," he said,
the
The monitary announcement by Salem Abdulaziz
viral
Sabah, the governor of Kuwait's Central Bank, ap-.
offi-
8.108 New Ji Currency Is Plann
al Collapse
peared designed to breathe life into an economy virtu-
or
stalw drign ods of HOSSER part
of
ally snuffed out by the seven-month Iraqi occupation
40005 01 KUWAIT, From
According to diplomats
and to head off growing public discontent over the pace,
very
of restoration efforts.
raq,
But there are few money, trans-
chants, issuing a new curr
conomic Policy Toward East
help resolve some uncertain
The banks, many of which have been closed since
the
actions Gasoline imported, the
spark an economic revival.
December, are to reopen with some restrictions, such
eavy
government from Saudi, Arabia- is
tion is squabbling over its contro-
as limits on individual withdrawals and foreign trans-
and
of his new
being given away, free, largely be-
will give a big impetu
fers, for the first 45 to 90 days, Sabah said. He declined
date
cause Kuwaitis have nothing to buy,
opening of shops,' one diploi
hen Kohl's
versial policy to limit Germany's
Some merchants who have
to elaborate on the restrictions but said they would be
stant
oil with, and supermarkets are tak-
under the
participation in the Persian Gulf
"very, very comfortable."
Ling a lot of IOUs, at least from Ku-
sell are reluctant to reopen
tock-
Is, to last
War to financial contributions and
Sabah also said the government had canceled all fi-
and
waiti citizens,
knowing the exchange rates
gs reached
Almost all shops and REDICED businesses
Ri
new Kuwaiti dinar.
searching for strategies in the eco-
S been un-
nancial transactions during the occupation and would
Irsh,
Sabah told news confer.
nomically desperate east.
make good the amounts that Kuwaitis held in their bank
viest
remain closed, many of them looted
of his year
Tens of thousands of voters took
day that the new rate would
to the streets of eastern German
accounts here on Aug. 1, the day before the Iraqi inva-
line
by the Iraqis before they fled the
how
close" to the old rate of $3.3
sion. He charged that the Iraqis stole gold bullion worth
country late last month in the face of
has begun
cities Monday night to protest the
dinar. He said the governm
about $950 million and seized more than $1.2 billion in
nec-
a ground offensive by U.S. and allied
concerted
printed more than $2 billion
loss of jobs. Today, the president of
bank notes.
north
forces. Three weeks after the liber-
the new currency.
doubts of
Germany's powerful central bank,
ation of Kuwait, the capital still has
domestic
Karl Otto Poehl, blasted Kohl's de-
After annexing this wealthy, oil- producing Persian Gulf:
Kuwalt holds foreign curr
it eastern
cision last summer to swap at parity
emirate as Iraq's "19th province," the Baghdad govern-
rain
an abandoned; deserted look. In
serves of about $90 billion,
ment of President Saddam Hussein sought to stamp out
black
many areas, vacant office buildings
Ing largely of revenue from
ne in more
East Germans' nearly worthless
the national currency, the Kuwaiti dinar, as part: of an
well
and, apartment blocks loom
over
million barrels a day of oil I
the unem-
money for the powerful western
effort to eliminate the country's national identity. Large
bught
largely empty streets.
country exported before the I
him over-
mark. "The result is disaster, as you
amounts of Kuwaiti currency were confiscated, and in-
ckish
Although electricity 18 slowly be
vasion, bankers have said.
ar when he
can see," the Bundesbank president
habitants were forced to use Iraqi dinars.
to be
ing restored, much of the/city ire
According to Kuwait's amb
would be
said. His remarks contributed to the
The Iragi effort largely succeeded. Although Kuwait
tion.
mains blacked out: and water.] avail
to Britain, Ghazi Rayes, the
1.
recent steady' rise in the dollar
ranks as one of the world's richest countries per capita,
able only from a disorganized system
struction of Kuwait is expe
as been SO
against the mark, closing today 3
its currency has virtually disappeared. Payments today
of deliveries by tanker trucks. The
cost $30 billion to $50 billion
cty is now
pferinigs higher at 1.64 marks.
are accepted in U.S. dollars, Saudi Arabian riyals, what-
ever old Kuwaiti dinars ) are available and
d
situation has. prompted
estimates have put the figure
the upper
"Convincing and powerful a year
complaints among Kuwaitis of
$100 billion over 10 years.
local elec-
ago," said Munich's Sueddeutsche
sometimes-even Iraqi dinars.
ernment incompetence
Sabah said the government
ding coali-
See KOHL, A26, Col. 1
See KUWAIT, A24, Col. 1
The first daily newapaper to be
plans to finance the reconst
published here since Kuwait's llb-
by selling assets abroad, wh
eration was suspended Monday at-
portedly are worth more than
ter it criticized the government for
billion. He refused to say who
failing to restore public utilities,
government would seek financ,
Reuter reported.
though economic analysts
To compensate Kuwaitis for their
substantial foreign borrowing.
losses and suffering under Iraq'
Special correspondent Trevo.
brutal, destructive occupation; cit-
added from the United Nations
lizens who remained in the country
Kuwait's ambassador to the
will be entitled to about $1,600
ed Nations, Mohammad Abu
each, Sabah said. Many Kuwaitis
said the complex issue of rep
who fled already have been receiv-
ing and accounting for missin
ing government stipends in exile, a
waiti prisoners of war and civili
sore point for: some of those who
tainees could slow the adopt
stayed behind. It was not immedi-
any final cease-fire resolutio
ately clear whether compensation
tween the allied coalition and Ir
would be offered to noncitizens who
Kuwait says 33,000 of its ci
remained during the occupation.
either have been abducted, kill
About 200,000 Kuwaitis-a third
are missing. The International
of the population-opted to endure
mittee of the Red Cross, said
the "Iraqi occupation-rather:than
only 4,368 Kuwaiti POWs an
flee. Estimates of the number of ex-
tainees have been registered in
patriates who stayed range from
The ICRC has appealed for
about 200,000 to 400,000, Include
ranging" humanitarian measure
ing about 150,000 Palestinians.
deal with the food shortages in
As a community, the Palestinians
In a statement, the ICRC said I
are widely resented by Kuwaitis
food-distribution system has
these days because of the Palestine
partially disrupted by the break
Liberation Organization's staunch
of communications and transpor
support for Saddam in the Persian
In Washington, Pentagon sp
War
Pate
Fill
Williams
and
announced
Photo Copy Preservation
Border Town Becomes
Wasteland of Refugees
Iraqis in U.S.-Held Zone Plead for Food WPPST
putting small, grimy hands to
By Nora Boustany
wide-opened mouths. Nasser
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saadoun Qlayyesh said that his
SAFWAN, Iraq-This U.S.-held
family was subsisting on "boiled
Iraqi border town, which in peace-
leaves with salt and tomatoes," and
ful times flourished on trade with
that some people were drinking
travelers between Kuwait City and
from muddy puddles of water to
the southern port of Basra, has
survive.
now become a wasteland for its
At least five children have been
residents and thousands of refu-
killed playing with or stepping on
gees stranded with little food and
unexploded yellow bomblets from
nowhere to go.
allied cluster bombs, villagers said.
As of Tuesday-when relief of-
For days, relief organizations
ficials announced a tentative
and the U.S. military disagreed on
agreement for the U.S. military to
who was responsible for helping
provide food and water-5,000
the refugees, but Walter Stocker,
Iraqis fleeing their government's
the chief International Committee
bloody repression of a Shiite Mus-
of the Red Cross delegate in Ku-
lim uprising had crowded into Saf-
wait, said Tuesday that under a
wan, fully overwhelming this once
tentative agreement, U.S. forces
self-sufficient farming town.
will begin distributing food and
"Please help us. We have no wa-
water.
ter, no medicine, no diesel fuel, we
Still unresolved, according to
are part of neither Basra nor Ku-
Stocker, is who should meet the
wait," Mohsen Kazem, 40, pleaded
broader humanitarian needs of the
recently as he and others gathered
growing number of refugees here
around a jeep carrying Western
and who is responsible for their
reporters. "We want to buy veg-
security. Even if immediate relief
etables, food, medicines. We don't
needs were met, he warned, "not
know what to do with our sick. We
only the United States but also
just want water. Please tell the
Iraq" would have to decide on their
Red Cross."
future.
Children standing forlornly on
One of the U.S. officers sta-
the side of the road motioned to
tioned up the road shrugged last
ASSOCIATED PRESS
motorists that they were hungry-
See SAFWAN, A22, Col. 1
U.S. guard walks by an Iraqi soldier who tried to go to Kuwait as a refugee.
A22 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1991 ...R1
THE WASHINGTON Posr
Refugees
30,000 Fl
Jam Town on
Get Shelte
Iraqi Border
SAFWAN, From A1
U.N. Offic
week when asked about the fate of
the people in Safwan. "I am a mil-
By Susan Okie
itary man. We are not in the busi-
Washington Post Staff Writer
ness of massive humanitarian as-
sistance," said Col. Robert West-
More than 30,000 Iraqi refugees,
holm, of San Antonio, Tex., gazing
fleeing from the civil war in south-
toward a desert strewn with over-
ern Iraq, have taken shelter in ref-
turned military vehicles, burned-out
ugee camps in southwestern Iran,
according to U.N. health officials
carcasses of trucks and blown-up
who visited the camps last week-
bunkers. "This is Iraq and the gov-
end.
ernment still needs to provide for
Most of the refugees are women,
its people."
children and elderly people, accord-
Lower-ranking soldiers, howev-
ing to Hiroshi Nakajima, the direc-
er, allowed their concerns to show.
tor-general of the Geneva-based
Pvt. Rodney Hall, from Rockville,
World Health Organization, who
Md., assigned to a checkpoint six
visited Iran last weekend. Nakajima
miles into Iraq to search vehicles
gave details of his visit at a news
heading toward Kuwait, said he was
conference in Geneva yesterday.
pained by the human misery he was
Nakajima said refugees described
witnessing at the border. "It's hard.
heavy fighting in southern Iraq and
It kind of hurts me. I hope one day
reported that in some cases, women
we don't end up like this,' he said,
and children were being used by the
"That is one part of the war I
combatants as "human shields." Ref-
really did not want to see," added
ugees told U.N. officials that many
Pfc. Rubin Perez, 20, from La
Iraqi families had been killed in the
Puente, Calif. "I was shocked when
fighting or by mine explosions while
trying to cross the border.
we rolled into that desert camp. We
A refugee at Safwan shows scars that he said came from razor blade cuts by Iraqi soldiers who seized him in Kuwait.
The refugees, some of whom suf-
had seen nothing like that before
fered wounds or burns in the fight-
except for a couple of soldiers."
We cannot protect them in a void. It
Iraqi civilians, mainly Shiites who
said, "We are victims of the Iraqis. I
ing, "are being well looked after by
The ICRC and the executive di-
is only a government that can de-
may never have felt they belonged
have a bag of candy to give to the
the Iranian authorities," Nakajima
rector of Middle East Watch, a hu-
mand an internment camp."
to President Saddam Hussein's pre-
children, but not to the soldiers.
said in a statement. "But this is an
man rights group, say that under
Andrew Whitley, executive direc-
dominantly Sunni Moslem regime
They all had a chance to refuse the
emergency situation and will re-
Article 55 of the Geneva Conven-
tor of the New York-based Middle
or identified with his Baath Party,
order to invade Kuwait. When Iraqi
quire immediate, concentrated ac-
tion, the United States, which now
East Watch, said it was a "require-
now face being unwanted aliens in
soldiers were killing and looting the
tion on the part of the United Na-
controls that desert strip, is also
ment" that the allies take care of
neighboring Kuwait-as it emerges
country, they were alone, no one
tions system."
responsible for the humanitarian
civilians in areas they control.
from a devastating occupation by
was forcing them to do it.
Nakajima gave no estimate of
problems that go with it.
"What happens to people who do
Iraqi troops.
"They harmed the Kuwaitis,
how many Iraqis are arriving in Iran
"If those countries can make war,
not want to go home?" asked Stock-
But Kuwaiti soldiers, on their
when they had the chance to."
each day, but he said that about
they also have to assume their re-
er. "We are going to have a no-
side of the border from Safwan, are
2,100 people arrived at one of the
turning back fleeing Iraqis hoping to
Members of the Kuwaiti army
sponsibility in this respect," the
man's land of uprooted people in the
largest camps, near the Iran-Iraq
middle of the desert."
who were taken away by the Iraqis
ICRC's Stocker argued. He said he
escape through Kuwait to safer ha-
border at Khorramshahr, on Satur-
and now have been freed without
was trying to urge the allied com-
Relief officials said establishment
vens,
day morning. Nakajima and another
manders who have troops and
of an internment camp at the bor-
Meanwhile, dejected Iraqi sol-
their papers also are being turned
WHO official visited the Khorram-
equipment massively deployed in
der until the situation normalizes
diers turn up at the first U.S. con-
back by Kuwait since they cannot
shahr camp, a second large facility
Kuwait and along the border to help
should be considered, especially
trol point, six miles north of Saf-
prove their identities and their al-
at Shushtar and a smaller "transit"
while Kuwait itself is still struggling
wan, also seeking to flee, but they
legiance is suspect.
camp in a military hangar contain-
the people.
to overcome the ravages of war.
are being disarmed and turned
This community of Kuwaiti sol-
ing about 3,900 people.
"It's not that we do not want to
Safwan residents have ousted
back. Kuwaiti soldiers who inter-
diers, known as the bidoon-Arabic
The camps SO far have adequate
assist these people, it is not a ques-
local officials, including those from
rogate them before sending them
for without-is another side to the
food, water and sanitation, but there
inn of resources." Stocker said
ruling Birth Party and in the
on their way insist that the deadline
tragedy of this war, compaynded by
is a shortage of medical workers.
11
allan
libil Theresh ml 4
Photo Copy Preservation