AN AIR BASE IN KUWAIT, 22 March 2003 — The war to “liberate” Iraq has taken on a surreal dimension here.
Since Thursday morning, when President George W. Bush told the world that US Tomahawks had been launched and that war had begun, journalists and US Marines in Kuwait have spent a good part of each day — and night — in bunkers, as Iraq launched Scud missiles at them.
Information about the military campaign has been scanty, at best. The “embeds” have been kept almost totally out of the loop when it comes to details, strategies, directions, movements or even the commanding general’s general game plan.
As a result, Marines get a kick out of teasing embeds so desperate for news that they gather at the few televisions in this compound.
“Hey, embed, I thought you were supposed to be telling the news, not watching it,” a Marine lobbed at one point.
In addition, there is resentment at the significant news leaks that some of the TV talking heads are making during newscasts.
One former Marine officer — now a TV/radio star — who should know better than anyone the importance of not compromising the safety of troops yesterday broadcast to the world a US pilot’s last name, which is strictly forbidden, and his squadron number, which is also top secret.
Most embeds here are without powerful friends in the right places to protect them, and word is that some 60 of them have already been thrown out of the program for co-opting the troops by revealing too much information.
There is also news that up north, embeds are dropping out of the program like flies, unable to hack the tough life the Marines are currently living in the desert.
All people on this base have spent the last 36 hours in a MOPP suit which is a heavy charcoal lined suit designed to repel any NBC (Nuclear, Biological or Chemical) contamination. The heavy suit is encumbering and very hot and uncomfortable in the desert heat.
If a siren sounds, one is trained to “don and clear” their gas masks in nine seconds — an action that effectively seals the face and lungs from contamination, but which also causes the eyes to water and the throat to swell.
The troops here must also wear oversized rubber boots, again to avoid the risk of possible contamination, and wear flak vests, steel helmets and canteens.
Incoming Scuds are greeted with a frenzied gasp of delirium as Marines struggle to seal their MOPP gear whilst also hastily hobbling over to the nearest bunker.
The bunkers, reinforced cement structures the shape of an inverted “U” are rapidly filled with panting, tightly packed, sweating bodies, all seeking protection from a possible incoming missile. The waiting is awful. No one speaks and quiet thoughts range from spiritual through treasured to mundane, anything that distracts from the fear of what may be incoming.
