AT AN AIR BASE IN KUWAIT, 23 March 2003 — Twelve years ago, Marine Maj. Scott Wittie helped liberate Kuwait. Now he’s back to partake in the assault on Iraq.

As the war in Iraq moves into its first week, Wittie, a Third Marine Aircraft Wing Combat Engineer Officer, spoke about his life here 12 years ago. Then he was stationed in the desert with a unit called the 7th Engineers, breaching the minefields with the first Marine divisions. Out in the field for months, they would camp every couple of days until the air war started in January. Wittie’s unit then moved up the Gulf side and worked their way west until they eventually reached the Kuwait border just 14 days before the ground war began.

“During the air war, we were moving a lot and living in foxholes, which were just big enough for two guys,” he told Arab News.

“They were about three feet deep in the ground; we put plastic and plywood over the top to keep out the elements. For just a little bit of overhead protection.”

Wittie said that the sleeping arrangements had their own set of problems. Once one of his sergeants was helping him take the plastic and plywood to bring to the next location and the next foxhole.

“It was about 5.30 a.m. and I was still half asleep. As we picked it up and walked toward the truck the sergeant told me to watch out for snakes. I told him it was way too early in the morning to be messing with me and I didn’t believe him. We then dropped the wooden planks, and there was a pit viper all curled up on a shelf I had built to put my coffee mug. I know they are pretty poisonous. By now he was angry and ready to strike, so I pulled out my ‘E-tool’, a miniature shovel all Marines carry, and chopped him in half.”

From this, a friendship with a Kuwaiti officer began. “Mahdi, the Kuwaiti interpreter and interrogator traveling with us saw what happened and told us that he thought the Marines were crazy to live like this. But during the three months he lived with us, he came to understand us and gained a lot of respect for our Marine values. But he never did get over the hardships that we endured.”

Asked how he now felt about the possibility of going into Iraq, Wittie said that 12 years ago he never dreamed that he would have to return to once again deal with Saddam Hussein. “I said I’ll come back a second time and that’s it. This time we’re going to have to put an end to this nonsense, because I’m not coming back a third time,” he said.

“During Desert Storm I was out in the desert for six months before we finally moved in. I am happy that this time we have only had to cool our heels for three weeks. Waiting is the most difficult part.”

Wittie and Mahdi became friends the three months they stayed in the desert. “We shared a lot of common goals in wanting to remove Iraq from his country. He told me about all the atrocities committed against the Kuwaitis, the details of which made me sick to my stomach. I couldn’t believe that people could commit such crimes against another people no matter what their culture, religion or background. It was horrendous. Once we went into Kuwait, I found out even more about the atrocities committed here. So we understood we were fighting evil.”

When his unit arrived in Kuwait, their first objective was to take the Al-Jabbar Air Force Base from the Iraqis. “Our goal was to take the air base in 96 hours and we captured it in 36 hours,” said Wittie, “but I lost one man.”

As soon as they entered, they learned about the Kuwaiti officers and NCOs (non-commissioned officers) who were shot or hung.

“Another thing that really upset me, and why I felt so bad for Mahdi, is that when the Iraqis rolled into Al-Jabbar Air Base Mahdi escaped to Saudi Arabia by driving across the desert. But the Iraqis found details about where all the Kuwaiti Air Force officers lived. The Iraqis went to the officers’ homes and they went to Mahdi’s apartment and found his fiancee there. They asked where Mahdi was and, when she said she didn’t know, they shot her in the head. She died instantly.

“So I felt an incredible sorrow for Mahdi, and that example also helped me understand the Iraqi military brutality to innocent civilians,” said Wittie.

Having taken the air base, Wittie and his men went up to Kuwait City. “It was there we got our orders to leave Kuwait, as the Kuwaiti soldiers were going to take over.”

Wittie said it was hard to leave Mahdi. “Then we jumped in our Humvees and drove through all the burning oil fields back to Saudi Arabia.”

This time Wittie says he and his fellow Marines want to ensure that Saddam Hussein doesn’t burn Iraqi oil fields as he burned the Kuwaiti oil fields.

The one bright spot, he says, is that he got to look up his old friend. “I kept in touch with Mahdi and we called each other every few months. He stayed with me in New Orleans in 1995 when he came over to the US to do some training.”

Wittie and Mahdi lost track of each other in 1999 when Mahdi moved. “I tried calling him a couple of times, but got someone who only spoke Arabic, so I knew it wasn’t him.” Then about six months ago, Mahdi called saying he just found his address. “With e-mail it’s much easier to stay in touch.”

Asked what Mahdi thought about Wittie being back, he said they were both “extremely excited” to see each other again. “When we got together a couple of weeks ago, it was like a big reunion. We still care a lot about each other. And that feeling will never change because we went through so much together.”

But he said that Mahdi is worried about him going into Iraq and made him promise he’ll stay in Kuwait.

Asked if he could keep such a promise, Wittie said: “No, I can’t make any promises. But if Mahdi had it his way, he would move me into his house and not let me back into that foxhole again.”