Kuwait Diary

Kuwait Diary -- March 24th, 2003

Day 5 of the 2nd Gulf War
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Yesterday, I had the premonition that we were sailing through a day of calm before the storm arrived here in Kuwait. Sure enough, today it seemed as if the desert storm had arrived in earnest. There were air raid signals blaring away since early morning. The danger warnings which came after noon wouldn’t just stop. By the time an all clear signal had been being given, another danger signal would start off. It was not suppposed to be funny, but while I was out on work at another location, my colleagues in our 20 storey office building were running up and down the stairwell continuously. Sometimes, by the time they were half way up to their floors, they would have to run down to the air-raid shelter again.

A total of seven missiles were fired into Kuwait today from Southern Iraq. Except for one, all the others were intercepted by Patriot missiles. One landed quite close to the US camp but fell harmlessly into the desert. I must say that the Patriot missile unit of the Kuwaiti army are doing a great job.

It seemed however, that the Iraqi missile mobile units operating in Southern Iraq had changed tactics. They had now begun to send two or three missiles simultaneously, so as to confuse the Patriot units on the ground. The more the coalition forces claimed that Umm Qasr and Basra had been secured, the more frequent seemed to be the launching of Iraqi missiles from Southern Iraq into Kuwait.

Despite assurances given 5 days ago that the port of Umm Qasr was secure, the coalition forces faced fierce resistance. It was estimated that a thousand Iraqi troops were holed up inside Basra putting up a huge fight. The water works of Basra had been affected. Due to sea mines, the port was not open for food supplies and Kofi Annan warned that Basra was facing a scenario of humanitarian disaster of massive proportions.

Elsewhere, thick black smoke from burning oil fields across the border from Kuwait had started to drift into the township of Jahra inside Kuwait. Kuwaiti oil workers had gone into Iraq and had started working to put out the oil fires.

According to interviews with army commanders in Southern Iraq, coalition forces would not engage Iraqi forces in close combat and urban fighting. The aim was to proceed to Baghdad quickly. We quickly understood that among other things, this would be risky for us across the border, if the coalition forces did not do the mopping up operations and disarm Iraqis before moving on towards Baghdad. But there was little time to do mopping up operations, and we knew that Southern Iraq would continue to be a place where there would be large pockets of Iraqi fighters left behind as coalition forces advanced north. We wondered if the long supply lines were not at risk of being attacked from the flank. And there are the Missiles; they just keep on coming. The ordinary Kuwaiti resident is a worried lot these days after having seen the images of coalition prisoners and faced with the prospects of supporting a war which could take longer than initially expected. Kuwait is increasingly getting isolated in the Arab world. The Kuwait embassy has been attacked in Egypt, Libya and surprisingly, in neighboring Bahrain. A long drawn war could pose major problems for Kuwait in the region. A Kuwaiti school teacher said today, “ why don’t they (coalition) use their superior technology and equipment and smash them quickly…” She was worried about the aftermath.

In the north, the battle of Baghdad neared a crucial phase, with US troops backed by Apache helicopter gun-ships primed for an all-out assault on Iraq's elite Republican Guard who are defending the capital. Coalition forces were 80 kilometers away from the outskirts of Baghdad. But after racing through the desert and skirting the cities to avoid messy house-to-house combat, the US-led forces had left unfinished business behind, with fierce resistance lingering in southern cities such as Basra, Umm Qasr and Nasiriyah. The coalition planners had expected the local populations to rise against their rulers and welcome the invading forces. This did not happen and the fiercest fighting yet raged on through Iraq today.

Yesterday CNN, Fox and Sky had been banned in Iraq. Today, Al-Jazeera, the Arabic-language TV network, said that the New York Stock Exchange had banned its reporters - a move the station attributed to its reports on the Iraq war. The station said that the exchange wanted to limit the number of television stations covering the exchange. But Al-Jazeera, which has been covering the NYSE for years, said it was believed to be the only channel affected by the action. The station said the action occurred "because of al-Jazeera's coverage of the war on Iraq." New York Stock Exchange spokesman Ray Pellecchia cited "security reasons" for the ban. He said the exchange had decided to limit the number of broadcasters in the stock exchange building and said it is "focusing its efforts on broadcasters that focus "on responsible business coverage." However, he couldn't name any other news organization that had also been banned. U.S. military officials had criticized Al-Jazeera for carrying an Iraqi television images of U.S. prisoners of war and the station has given extensive coverage to widespread Arab criticism of the U.S. war effort. Al-Jazeera is based in the Gulf state of Qatar, which also hosts the U.S. military's Central Command for the region. The station has gained a reputation as an unusually independent voice in a region where many news media are heavily government influenced or controlled.

Then there is the human suffering that wars bring. Iraq's civilians are still waiting for the food, water and other help Washington and London promised they would distribute behind their advancing soldiers. But with unexpectedly tough combat holding up the humanitarian aid convoys, hope is rapidly turning to anger.

"This war has quickly turned us into beggars," an old man who gave his name as Farak said as he sat on the side of a road in southern Iraq.
In this part of the country, at least, years of UN economic sanctions that stripped cupboards have now been replaced by a fierce war which is depleting the few remaining valuable provisions, resulting in a severe penury. With no running water and no electricity, and food all but gone, the inhabitants of the south have slipped into despair, no longer believing in the US promises they would be taken care of. There are no celebrations to greet the Western troops.

"We've been abandoned to our fate. Nobody has given us anything to eat. Nobody is providing security. All they do is arrive here, attack Saddam's forces, then leave," said Hussein Yaber, a 20-year-old shepherd living in a barn south of Nasiriyah. He had been forced to buy 300 liters of water from various trucks driving down from the north because his family now had no more drinking water.
"We can't remember when the situation has been so bad," he said -- a telling comment in a region with a Muslim Shiite majority long oppressed by the Sunni minority that runs Iraq.
Because of the desperation, incidents of looting and assault have broken out in recent days, resulting in several people being hurt.
On Sunday, a 10-year-old girl died when she stepped on one of the innumerable landmines laid by Iraqi forces around the border town of Safwan.

During any war, there are multitudes who seize the opportunity to make a quick buck. Ethical issues are normally given the casual go-by. The day to day demands of running the war make many rich very quickly. This war is no exception as Kuwaiti newspapers have so eloquently pointed out. But this disease has also been caught by the national airlines of some countries leading to protests here in Kuwait. Taking advantage of the huge demand of expatriates trying to leave Kuwait for the security of their home countries, airlines have raised air fares to levels never seen before. War risk premiums are being quoted as an excuse. Perhaps it is in human nature to profit from human misery.

Coalition forces now stand within 80 kilometers of the outskirts of Baghdad. Three layers of the Iraqi republican guards are waiting outside and within Baghdad. The long march will soon be over. It will take some time for the thick smoke over Baghdad to clear, smoke that makes volcanoes look puny in comparison. Forces on both sides now face the mother of all battles, while the world looks on from the sidelines, impotent to do anything.