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 |   Random reflections on the second gulf war. The author is based in Kuwait, Persian Gulf.
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Kuwait – March 20, 2003 -------------------------------------------------- From the sands of time…… I reflect back on the aphorisms from the Santi Parva, the twelfth book of the great Indian epic and the world’s longest verse, The Mahabharata. The sages who wrote the epic five thousand years ago, were concerned with eternal values, not the shifting morals and ethics of a particular age and the strategies for success remain much the same today as they were in those times. Here are some transliterations (Sanskrit) of the aphorisms that come to mind. War. Victory acquired by battle is inferior. Victory achieved by battles are not spoken of highly by the wise. Collision in battle is not desirable as long as it can be avoided. The policy of conciliation, producing dissention and making of gifts should be employed first. Battle should come afterwards. Vrihaspati ( Jupiter) said that a king possessed of intelligence should always avoid war for the acquisition of territory. The acquisition of dominions should be made by three well known means: that of conciliation, gift and disunion. The six essential requisites of sovereignty are…. Peace with a foe who is stronger, war with one of equal strength, invasion of the dominions of one who is weaker………… These teachings are very close to those of the Chinese warrior/philosopher Sun Tsu writing The Art of War, two thousand years ago, or Machiavelli the Florentine political strategist (The Prince – 15th century), or, Miyamoto Mushashi (The Book of Five Rings-- 17th century) the Japanese master swordsman. Listening to the debates that preceded the 48 hour ultimatum, it seemed that most of the world agreed with these tenets. But then, some didn’t. Yesterday. We felt safe in Kuwait and it was work as usual. Those with known links to the Al Quaida and those who had visited Afghanistan and Pakistan during the Afghan action, had already been rounded up. There were over-head surveillance cameras placed all over the city, on top of tall poles, buildings and these were monitoring all activities and movements. These cameras are more sophisticated than the traffic cameras that we are all used to. We were safe. But diplomacy had failed. The foundations of international law had been brought into question. Preemptive action, as a tool of enforcing a country’s will on another has been made acceptable. If I only ‘think’ that someone is going to harm me, then I can take action without waiting for proof. To my mind, a critical reason for the failure of diplomacy is the state of the weather in the deserts of Kuwait and Iraq. Waiting for another 30-45 days would have meant that the temparature would have crossed 100 degres F. There is no way that a ground assult can be made by western troops in such temperatures. By mid May going into June, the temperature would cross 117 degrees F here in Kuwait. A delay of 45 days would have meant that the campaign would have had to be postponed till October and the tactical advantage would have been lost by then. Thus war had already been decided on and diplomacy had been given only half a chance. The results of this will unfold as the days go by. Today. The 48 hour ultimatum from the US president Bush to Saddam Hussein to go into exile or face war ran out last night. I woke up to an eerie dawn in the aftermath of a desert dust storm. I started out the way I do every morning. A nice warm water bath, a light breakfast and I hit Expressway 30 by 6.45 am on my way to office in Kuwait City. One of the first things that I do when I get out of the house is to wear my dark glasses to be able to see in the strong glare of the Arabian desert sunlight. But today was different. Particles of dust hung around everywhere. The breeze had died down and the dust wouldn’t go away. There was dust everywhere. You could look directly at the sun through the thick haze. The sun looked like the moon. Yes, there was something different about today. The traffic was the same. There was the same traffic snarl near the 5th Ring Road. The women drivers and young shebabs in their Mercs, Lexus and BMWs, were driving as badly as ever. But, something was different. I was in office by 7.15 but before I could reach my room, I saw my colleagues going into the conference room and huddle around the TV. “Forget work. Come and watch the news,” a colleague dragged me into the conference room. “ Bush tried to assasinate Saddam and the Iraqi leadership.” CNN was on and so was Iraqi television. They were going on about the ‘human intelligence’ that the CIA had presented on a meeting of the Iraqi leadership. “ A window of opportunity,” said Jim Clancy of CNN from a neibouring building in Kuwait City from where he was broadcasting. The US had used the precision smart bombs that can pinpoint and take out anything within 3 meteres of the target. They had only got a customs building. Saddam was still alive. Iraqi television was vituperating on the “ illegal actions of ‘little Bush’, the stupid leader of a clever people.” So the show had begun. “ Nothing will happen here in Kuwait,” said my Arab friend with some finality. “This time we are well prepared. Those Iraqis are not invading Kuwait like ’91. The Americans are invading Iraq. They will protect us, inshalla.” For our colleages in a neighboring bank, all their annual leaves had been cancelled. “If you go back now, you have no jobs to come back to,” they had been told. Most western expatriates had already gone. We heard that two Canadians had resigned from the treasury and were on their way back home. “Chicken,” they said in a taunting tone. “It will all be over in two days. These Americans have hitech army and firepower which will smash these Iraqis in no time. Two days, I tell you. You are absolutely safe here and we do have our tested contingency plans.” And then, there were the lies and bravado. A British expatriate who had left Kuwait was interviewed on British TV as he landed at London’s Heathrow airport. He calmly told his audience that the supermarkets and shelves in Kuwait were empty. There was nothing that you could get. Apparently, he had not been able to get a packet of cigarettes. We listened with disbelief. There were no shortages anywhere. The markets were overflowing with goods. But then, this was ‘his’ moment in the sun, even if he had to lie to get there. Human nature…………oh… Back in my room, I switched on my PC. I had to work on a report within a deadline, but I found it difficult to concentrate. I just stared at the blank screen procrastinating. I just could not get my thoughts down. I surfed the net for all the news that I could get and sent an email to my wife in India. I concluded that I had indeed done a wise thing by sending my family off to India. That way I would need to worry only about myself. I got a reminder on my PC for a meeting in 30 minutes on the 14th floor, and as I prepared the documents to take to the meeting, I stared out over the waters of the Arabian Gulf (Persian gulf). Visibility was poor today and the skyscrapers of the central business district surrounding Safat square looked like ghostly apparitions floating in the thick haze of suspended dust. ……….. but how can this happen? This was not ‘supposed’ to happen. Half an hour into our meeting, engrossed in the technicalities of project implementation, the air raid sirens started wailing the danger signal and the first Al Samoud missiles smashed into Kuwait. With practiced precision, we switched off the PC, closed our desk drawers and headed down the stairwell into the shelter in the basement. Offices closed and as soon as the all-clear siren was heard, we headed towards the car park. We went past some women weeping in fear and talking animatedly on cell phones with their loved ones at home. They were expecting the much awaited ‘massive’ coalition attack against Iraq. Instead they were at the receiving end of long range Scud missiles. For the first time I saw fear in civilian eyes in Kuwait. I got into my car and tried to get into Expressway 45. I saw a massive traffic jam with people trying to get home and away from center city. There was no way that I’d be able to drive down the usual route that I take to drive down to my home in Salwa, a suburb of Kuwait City. Slowly, I managed to meander into Expressway 30. It took an hour to just get into the expressway. There were police checkposts at street corners. For some reason they were wearing blue uniforms ( not their usual uniforms) and carrying automatic weapons. There was bumper to bumper traffic even on the expressway. As I reached home after a long slow drive, the air raid sirens started wailing again. They would wail nine times in Kuwait on the first day of the second gulf war. Ten scud missiles would be fired in regular intervals. Some would be intercepted by Patriot missiles fired in defence from Kuwait. Others would come very close to the US marine camps in Northern Kuwait and to the oil fields of Kuwait. At least one would fall close to a civilian residential area. Images of Day One. President Bush addresses the American nation, saying that he is going to war to prevent the horrors seen on 9/11 on American soil. The war would be a long and difficult one. Relatives and friends of 9/11 victims publicly state that they were not convinced of any links between the Iraqi regime and the terror attacks on 9/11. Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi TV wearing brown reading glasses, looking haggard, stressed out but still alive. The Iraqi Interior minister on BBC, in battle fatigues brandishing a Kalashnikov, venting anger at the invading forces. Defiance personified. Rhetoric and propaganda answered by propaganda and rhetoric. US Congressman interviewed on Fox, says that the United Nations has become so irrelevant, that they should be thrown out of the US and the UN building in New York, sold as a piece of real estate. Three oil fields set ablaze by the Iraqis, triggering a change of tactical battle plans forcing a ground movement through Southern Iraq prior to full scale air attacks, to stop the mobile Scud launchers and the burning of further oil assets. The crash of a coalition helicopter kills eight British soldiers and four US marines. The initial retreat of the allied forces moving towards the port of Umm Qasr where they face unexpected resistance. ___ ____ ____ _____ _____ As midnight arrived, the world waited in quiet anticipation for the unleashing of US might, for the pyrotechnics of operation ‘Shock and Awe’ over Bagdad. Perhaps tomorrow. Meanwhile stock yourself with popcorn, arm yourself with beer and wine; prepare for the TV war on your doorstep. |
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