KUWAIT CITY, 6 March 2003 — One thing is certain: The war on Iraq won’t start before this weekend.
The “embed” journalists have not been issued their gas masks, and the Pentagon has told its US headquarters in Kuwait that embedding journalists is a “no go” until the gas masks arrive. The masks are due to arrive here by the end of the week.
If anything happened, all these soon-to-be-embedded journalists would miss it.
The gas masks are stuck back in North Carolina. Apparently delayed due to bad weather, they are to get here by Friday. Here at the Kuwait Hilton, the journalists’ measurements for protective NBC (nuclear, biological, or chemical) suits have been taken, and military-issued IDs with photo are waiting. But the journalists will get nothing until it’s official, and it’s not official until they get their masks.
Some soldiers on an airplane crammed full of US military men, reservists and contractors from all corners of America told Arab News their small towns had been all but emptied when Uncle Sam called them up. Some said they had never been overseas before. Others said they had never even been on an airplane.
All of them expressed major concerns about this war. They do not want it, and they’re not happy with President Bush’s — as one GI put it — “cowboy gung-ho attitude.”
This poses a big problem. Because when the military doesn’t have confidence in their commander-in-chief, this could seriously affect morale.
Turkey’s decision not to allow US troops in on its territory has caused another big problem, an officer confided. Attacking Iraq from the north (Turkey) and the south (Kuwait) was Plan A. So now, while the Pentagon fine-tunes its Plan B, Central Command is scrambling to absorb the 62,000 extra troops meant for Turkey.
“This decision has made things a mess for us in the south of Kuwait,” the officer said. “We weren’t prepared for these troops to suddenly shift here, now we can’t even get double A-batteries out in the field. Everything is clogged up, and there’s a shortage on anything you can imagine.”
In Kuwait, word has it that local merchants are picking up the slack and making quick bucks. Essentials such as toothpaste, toilet paper, soap and eye drops are flying off the shelves. Gas masks and desert boots are also in demand by local Kuwaitis, who figure that if the US military is so keen on them, perhaps they should be too.
Another officer agreed about the problems the Turkish government’s refusal to allow in US troops had caused the US military in Kuwait.
“It’s going to take weeks to sort this all out,” he said.
He added that there were problems with the embeds too. “Or big problem will be teaching them so many of the things they need to learn. This decision to let so many journalists in with the troops comes straight from (Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld. He made the decision after seeing the type of press they got after the Gulf War and Afghanistan. But now we’re left with the logistics, and that means more than just teaching them how to use a gas mask.”
Kuwaiti businesswoman Nawal Al-Rushaid was also on the flight. She told Arab News of her concern about the war against Iraq, and was critical of what she viewed as the lax attitude of the Gulf governments towards the ultra-conservative and radical religious groups in the Gulf and the negative effects they are having on their societies.
“We need the Arab press to be more honest about this situation,” she said. “Fifteen of the 19 World Trade Center terrorists were Saudis, and now Kuwaitis are killing Americans — can you imagine, the very same Americans who saved us from Iraq 12 years ago!”
