
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991                   TAG: 9102270384
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN FESPERMAN THE BALTIMORE SUN
DATELINE: SOUTHERN KUWAIT                                LENGTH: Medium

DEMORALIZED IRAQIS SEEK OUT SURRENDER

They were fed up with the hunger, the cold, the rain and the Iraqi army in general. And the last thing they wanted to do was fight whomever it was that had bombed their trenches for five weeks running.

So, at midafternoon Tuesday, they threw off their helmets, buried their guns in the sand and set out 10 abreast down an empty desert highway. They carried a bamboo pole with a white cloth tied to the end, and they were intent on surrendering to the first person they found.

Two hours later, they happened to find us - free-lance writer Michael Kelly and myself - as we drove toward them on the highway a few miles inside the Kuwaiti border.

We stopped and, once we saw that they were unarmed, we hopped from the truck to give them food. Two in the group spoke halting English. They asked to come with us, but at first we declined.

We were heading in the opposite direction, and our truck already was stuffed with 10-liter gas cans. So, we drove away, only to find the road cut a half mile later by a deep trench. We turned around, then, and decided to see how many could fit into the truck. All 10 managed to, with the last two clinging to the open rear doors.

After 2 1/2 miles we came across a northbound Saudi supply column.

We stopped and flagged down a truck. I told the driver that there were 10 Iraqis who wanted to surrender, but my English seemed to baffle him.

However, the sight of the 10 men in dark green Iraqi uniforms tramping toward his truck reached him loud and clear. He grabbed his automatic weapon, jumped from the cab and rammed an ammunition clip into place with a loud snap.

The driver of the following truck did the same and within seconds a dozen more Saudi soldiers were running toward the Iraqis.

Their reaction was understandable. They were drivers in the rear column of a vast supply train and this was likely their first look at surrendering troops.

A few minutes later, Lt. Saud Otabi arrived. He ordered most of the Saudis back to their trucks. Then a second officer distributed soap and water to the Iraqis, an act that calmed them considerably.

We drove away, while the Iraqis awaited their ride to a POW camp.

by CNB