Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991 TAG: 9102270550
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: KUWAIT CITY LENGTH: Medium
The coalition column that rolled into the city center encountered a metropolis ravaged, looted and left virtually without power by the Iraqis, who beat a swift retreat after nearly seven months of brutal occupation.
U.S. and Saudi special forces first rolled through the city Tuesday, and American journalists arrived ahead of allied regular troops Tuesday night to find a dark, eerie city deserted in many areas.
Streets were littered with burned-out cars as well as tanks, armored vehicles, weapons and helmets left behind by Iraqi soldiers who pulled out in haste the day before.
"It's like I'm dreaming," said Fahd Waled Jassar, 22, a member of the Kuwaiti resistance. "Kuwait is ours again."
Kuwaitis at resistance headquarters said several hundred Iraqis were hiding in the city, but there was no organized attempt to prevent the allies from entering the capital. Some resistance fighters were holding Iraqi prisoners.
Early today, some American and Saudi special forces troops, along with resistance fighters, probed the city for signs of the Iraqi forces.
There was occasional gunfire, though most was believed to come from celebrating troops and resistance fighters shooting into the air.
Nearby, fires from oil wells set alight sent bright orange flames into the sky, which was black with thick clouds. Greasy and oily rain fell.
Resistance fighters, witnesses and Kuwaiti officials recounted Iraqi atrocities.
"They were killing us just for no reason. They were chasing us," said Mahdi al-Kallaf, who said he was a resistance fighter. "They were knocking on our doors and taking our kids, our boys. They were taking our food, just like monsters. They were killing us, we don't know why."
He said he witnessed executions. "Many, many of them I saw - horrible."
Residents said much of the damage to the pillaged city was inflicted Monday night. The emir's palace was in ruins. Seafront hotels had been torched and comfortable neighborhoods - symbols of the nation's oil wealth - had been ravaged.
Major buildings were burned-out shells, stores stood looted. Power lines were down and there was very little water in the city. Hundreds of buildings had been damaged, mostly by fires, some of which were still burning.
Cars had been stripped and gas was in short supply.
"If you come to Kuwait, you will say this is not Kuwait at all," a woman said. "It's not Kuwait anymore."
The U.S. Embassy appeared undamaged, but U.S. special forces had not entered the building as of dawn today for fear it was booby trapped.
On the streets were abandoned tanks, armored personnel carriers and anti-aircraft guns, one of which was fully loaded.
Iraqi troops smashed military barracks and royal palaces in their initial thrust after the invasion, Kuwaiti exiles have said. They also blew up bank vaults and looted schools, hospitals, companies and car showrooms in the city, whose pre-invasion population was about 450,000.
A gaping hole from a rocket attack mars the city's main landmark, an obelisk-like structure on the waterfront.
Also devastated was the multimillion-dollar conference hall built as a sign of Kuwait's cosmopolitan flavor.
But amid the destruction was joy as the Kuwaiti-led allied column drove proudly into town, with other Arab forces and some Americans in its ranks.
Civilian vehicles formed impromptu convoys to welcome the troops home.
The Kuwaiti force raised the red-white-green-and-black national flag over downtown Flag Square, where National Day celebrations are held.
Kuwait radio, broadcast from Saudi Arabia during the occupation, continued to caution against booby traps and mines left behind by the Iraqis. But Kuwaitis left their homes to hug and kiss reporters and troops.
"Good, Mr. Bush!" a Kuwaiti yelled to a television camera.
People unfurled Kuwaiti flags and displayed large pictures of the exiled emir, actions said to have brought death to some during the Iraqi occupation.
Abu Fahad, a top resistance leader, called over Kuwait radio for health care workers to go to hospitals.
South of the city, Arab troops in the coalition stretched for 15 miles along a highway. The outlying areas were cluttered with bomb craters, bomb casings, helmets and bullets.
by CNB