The war that started all other wars

I was in Kuwait when Iraqi forces rolled in on August 2nd, 1990. The tanks drove in straight through the wide highways. Some thought these were Kuwaiti military drills. They opined it will be better if dummy houses were used to practice rather than shooting at real houses. People outside knew more about Saddam's intentions than the people inside Kuwait or Iraq. American ambassador to Iraq was questioned earlier about a potential attack before this happened. Forces were amassed at the border even before the meeting. But the headline in Kuwait times on that day said something to the effect that the meeting between Iraq and Kuwait had ended amicably with an agreement for further talk. No alarms were raised before the days leading up to the eventful day. In fact, the discussion was such a failure that Saddam decided to attack as soon the delegation returned to Baghdad. All of the royal family members and most of the rich Kuwaitis including the owner of Kuwait times had fled the country before Iraqis crossed the border. Expats do all the jobs for them anyway. Who can blame them if they expected the expats to defend their country too.

The account of their meeting is still sparse. But the reasons were well documented. Iraq got into serious financial trouble after the eight year war with Iran. Kuwait as well as Saudis had helped Iraq immensely financially. Saddam always claimed that the war was to protect Arab nations such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from Persian forces, Iranian forces that is. The sheiks in Kuwait never displayed their disdain for the socialist ideas of Saddam. One of Saddam's demands was for Kuwait to pardon it's loan. It was around 15 billion dollars. Remember the amount, fifteen billion dollars. There were another two demands as well. There is a large oil field named Rumaila, one of the largest in the world. It spans across Iraq and Kuwait. Iraq drills from one end and Kuwait from the other. During the war Iraq was not able to operate its oil wells. But Kuwait was drilling even more to compensate for the supply disruption during the war. Moreover, Kuwait also benefited from the increased oil price those days. When the war ended, oil prices came down. So Kuwait increased its oil production. This pressured oil prices downward further. Every OPEC member had a quota. Kuwait was blamed for was pumpking more than it's quota. Saddam wanted a production cut in expectation of increasing the oil prices. He also wanted Kuwait to stop drilling from the Rumaila oil field. Arrogance is a proud trait of Kuwait culture and personal insult is an important part of Kuwaiti arabic. These were in full display during the tri-party discussions among Iraq, Kuwait and the host Saudi Arabia on August 1st.. They too played a role in Saddam’s decision.

The war that started all other wars

In late 70's Iran and Iraq were two of the fastest growing economies. The growth was mainly driven by oil export. Both these countries are also blessed by nature with fertile soil, rivers and rain, unlike the barren deserts of Saudi Arabia and oil rich middle east nations. Iraq under brutal Saddam and Iran under corrupt Shah had made very good progress on infrastructure, education and other social services. Islamist in Iran viewed modernisation as a threat to it's culture. They interpreted westernisation as exploitation of Islamic land by the western countries. In 1979 Shah was toppled in a coup under the leadership of Ayatollah khomeini. 

Iraq was under what is called an Arab socialist rule. Though Saddam was a Sunny, the country is majority Shia. It is the Shias in Iran who toppled shah. Naturally, Saddam started to worry. Iran also had a history of electing a socialist leader to power. It was this faction Saddam was counting on when he decided to intrude into Iran. He did not want to waste time since he knew the things you want to do tomorrow, do it today. The pretext was the ownership of Shatt Al Arab which divides Iran and Iraq. Shatt Al Arab is a river which divides Iraq and Iran. It provides a perfect natural border. Linguists and historians are still studying about the demand to divide a border. What Saddam expected was a quick victory, removal of islamist from power and replacing it with a socialist government. In a country which is in disarray after a revolution, that shouldn’t be hard. But that went on for 8 long years. It bankrupted both the countries. Both countries were also successful in destroying each other's oil wells. The West was successful in their games too. They made sure that Iran would lose and Iraq wouldn’t win. So they supplied arms to both the sides. They always believed in balance! Indians in general supported Saddam because of his bollywood hero like looks and Amin Sahni like sound. 

Kuwait Invasion

When Iraq invaded Kuwait it did not have any meaningful defence. Iraqis just rolled in through the highways. America was fearful of the supply disruption of oil and also a potential invasion of Saudi Arabia. It was really remarkable how President George Bush formed and led a coalition to evict Iraqi forces from Kuwait. It was the grand display of modern warfare. Americans and british also got rid of their old and unused bombs. While retreating Iraq forces set fire to most of the Kuwaiti oil wells. The light from these burning wells saved them from dangerous reptiles and desert snakes. But they were carbonated by the intense heat of the allied bombs before reaching home. Most people feared the fire would burn the whole region down and reduce it to ashes. There came Red Adair. How they capped each and every burning well is the biggest astonishment for me. I was back in Kuwait in 1992 when they capped the last well.

Aftermath

The Kuwait invasion was the result of the Iran-Iraq war, Gulf war was the result of the Kuwaiti invasion. Gulf war allowed western forces to occupy the holy land of Saudi Arabia. This was said to be the reason for Osama bin laden’s ire with the West. This led to Afghanistan and 911 which led to the Iraqi invasion. Iraqi invasion resulted in the rise of ISIS which had given rise to Syrian crisis. I can't even imagine what is in store for the future. Rememeber the 15 billion dollars? The country of Iraq is in ruin, insurance cost of 911 alone is ten times that amount. The cost of Iraq war was more than a trillion dollars, Afghan war another couple of trillion and many more trillions to follow in Syria and elsewhere. 

Parallels

I see parallels. India and China are the fastest growing economies in the world. There is a lot of chest thumping on both sides. China relies on its newly acquired economic and military might. India counts on its newly found friendship with America and the West. And they have started skirmishes on barren waste land glaciers, much like Iran and Iraq. Any escalation will have serious consequences for both countries and will be more devastating than the middle eastern wars. Both countries have to feed a billion mouths each. Western powers will only be happy to sell their arms to both countries as they did during the Iran Iraq war. But how can you expect the Indians and chinese to learn from the history of the Middle east?

Hystory rhymes

These covid days rhyme with those days. Days of loneliness, fear and unpleasant thoughts,  thoughts of mortality and unfulfilled dreams, dreams about pain and fatality. It was thirty years ago. 

On August 2nd 1990 morning, I was waiting for the trainer driver, who is supposed to pick me up at 6 am. It was an unusually hot summer. After early morning hours it gets really hot, at times it crosses 50 degree centigrade. While getting out of my apartment, I glanced at the headline of the Kuwait times which was dropped at the door. It had some news about an amicable settlement between Kuwait and Iraq. Past 7:05, 7:10 the trainer did not turn up. Then I heard my home phone ringing. There was a student of mine who calls at odd hours. I wanted to pick it up but I did not want to miss the trainer. So ignored the call. Then a weird thing happened. I saw a couple of low flying aircrafts. I also felt what sounded like thunder. I hadn't experienced any rain in Kuwait and there was no cloud in the sky. Then the phone started ringing  again. I ran inside and picked up the phone. It was one of my friends who broke the news. Iraqi forces have captured Kuwait. Then it struck me. The thunder I heard was of the bombs.

It was difficult to live without a driving licence in Kuwait. And it was more difficult to get a driving licence. So I was very happy when I received my learners licence. I couldn't wait to get my licence. However, to obtain a licence you need to go through a mandatory training. So I eagerly signed up for such a session. I had a few sessions earlier and few more left before the driving test. That day i was waiting for such a driving session. 

I was working in Jabia indian school. The school vacation had started in Mid June. Most of my colleagues had left for India for their vacation. I had a terrible performance review and almost lost my school job. But I had an offer for a programmer job from a big private firm. The plan was to get the visa in my hand, fly with the Visa and enjoy the vacation and come back and start the new job. My sister's marriage was also planned. I had to attend that too. Instead I got stuck in Kuwait. 

I was living in Jabria near the Indian School to avoid the hassles of commuting. It wasn't a usual residential area preferred by indians.  With the new job and a driver's license in hand I was also thinking about a more convenient place. The place was full of consulates and embassies. Whenever I go for a walk I always see some security guards standing in front of the houses. Some even had started saying 'marhaba', hello in arabic. I thought this must be one of the safest places on earth I used to think. I also used to joke that I have the protection of american and italian forces.

Jabria was also special in another way. Whenever I visit a new place I try to get the map and information on important places. Before flying to Kuwait I had bought a book. It's cover had a conical water tower. That was in Jabria right across from the highway where I lived. It was next to the Bayan palace, a huge complex which also hosted a convention center. This highway was named something else but now it says Sultan Al Nahyan Highway.

The peace, safety and everything else changed that day. Throughout the day, there were noises of low flying aircrafts and distant booms of explosions. Still generally it was calm. All that changed towards noon and the afternoon. A number of tanks rolled through the highway, turned to the palace and started shelling. There were also occasional exploitations which shook the whole building. It wasn't a very tall building. Four or five floors. I was on the ground floor. There were four or five buildings in the complex. I actually did not know anyone there. I never tried to socialize. There were a few indian families. They all probably knew me since I taught in the school where their kids are studying and I knew none. 

When the sound increased and buildings started shivering, people in the higher floors came down. We thought it would be safer on the ground floor, so those on the higher floor moved to the ground floor apartments. I got a company of three. One who lived just above and the other was a couple on the fourth floor. We expected the fighting to get worse at night. But it looked like Iraqi soldiers pacified the resistance quickly. We all could have slept but no one did.  

From that day, I began to socialize. The next day or is it the same day, the whole malayali group went to the nearby Jamaiya ( community grocery store) nearby. Gas is always essential. First we filled petrol. There was news about long lines in the petrol station. But we did not experience any major problem. But by the time we reached the store, the store shelves were all empty. But some smart ones in the group got a ton of bread. All I could find was some soup packets and a packet of frozen shrimp. Then we stood in the queue for cooking gas. What began as queues quickly descended into chaos with people trying to get ahead and others trying to prevent. Again some smart ones got gas cylinders which ran out quickly. Before I reached the counter, I could hear people shouting ‘khalaas’, finished that is.

I don't know exactly when, but I attended a community meeting which took place in the Indian School. It was attended by mostly the business leaders and some embassy representatives. The group organized essentials for those in the labour camps, We opened a counter to prepare travel documents for those who did not have a passport. I signed many of those documents. Couple of them were prisoners released from Kuwaiti prison by the Iraqi soldiers. Later, when the evacuation started, parents started asking for the transfer certificate. I signed many of those too. So I acted as the school principal and Indian foreign service official in the same month!

Indian embassy did not have a database of Indians in Kuwait. So we started a registration process in the salmiya Indian School. Someone picked me up every day and someone else dropped me back at night. I don't think I had lunch and of those days. I created a database entry screen. Those were on the school computers without any hard disk. So I took my personal personal computer to aggregate all the records. This computer itself has a story to tell which is later. The data was used to pick a convoy of  2000 persons 40 persons each in 50 buses. How to give preference to those in the labour camps, how to group family members together, these were my problems those days.

I became very social those days. That was a big personal change. I saw some becoming very selfish, some very fearful and some others very generous. One of the incidents was when an Iraqi soldier came for inspection. First time when someone showed up fully armed I was fearful too. But when he realized that I was ‘hindi’, he became relaxed which made me very relaxed. He also accepted my offer for a cola.  Others around did not have to have the surprise. I called everyone and told them that the inspection is on. 

These inspections became a routine. They were in search of Kuwaiti’s resistance fighters. Generally these soldiers were disciplined and well behaved. But there were also horror stories and rumors of torture spreading fast. It was weeks later, I was in my neighbor’s house when a couple of soldiers showed up for inspection. One stood outside, another entered the house. He asked ‘what's your name’ in almost perfect english. My neighbor who was shivering with fear muttered something like 'ana Kuwaiti' in arabic which meant I am a Kuwaiti. He was actually a pakka achayan from Thiruvalla . I didn't know why he said that. Sometimes while writing I omit the most important ‘NOT’ in the sentence. Is it a case like that? Even when Kuwiatis try to hide their identity, that is the worst an Iraqui soldier wants to hear. They become very suspicious. They checked everywhere and checked everyone's passport and license. I had my wallet and ‘wataka’ with me fortunately.

Another similar incident happened on the road. There was a check post on the highway. Just two lines were open in each direction.  Everyone slows down, some are checked more thoroughly than others but most were waved off, probably Indians. My friend who was driving got ready with all the documents. He was a bit agitated I could realize. The car rolled slowly. As soon as he reached the post instead of stopping the car, it's tires screeched and the car launched forward. We could hear shots on the back. I am still not sure whether he aimed at us and missed or they were warning shots in the air. My friend realized the mistake and pressed the brakes hard. We had to go through a thorough inspection. My friend was trying hard to convince everyone including me that there is no intention to run away and he pressed the accelerator by accident instead of the brake. Actually I was sheltered at his place and we left for India together.

Things were looking bleak. World was preparing for a bigger war. Shortage of food and essentials were becoming imminent. Uncertainty abound. One of those days IK Gujral came to negotiate the evacuation. When the evacuation started, we didn’t even know how safe it was. In between Onam came and we all gathered to celebrate. There were people who thought it was safer to stay, some were ashamed to go back as refugees and one joked about joining the iraqi security forces to  scare his terrible kuwait boss.

 

Finally when we decided to leave, I went to see sunny Mathews who was the man behind organising the evacuation. He did try to discourage me by saying 'if youngsters like you leave, how will the things work for everyone'. I felt bad but left anyway. A bus with forty two of us in a convoy of fifty buses drove to Amman. We stayed in the refugee camp for a few days. There was a severe dust storm one day. And finally an aeroflot flight flew us to  Mumbai on October 2nd.