HUt~~~N INTEREST.STORY FOR CMC

File: 082696_d50022_141.txt
Page: 141
Total Pages: 242
The following article is offered as input to LtGen ~oomer' B
request for interesting items that may have happened during
the liberate ~uwait exercise.

     The 1st Battalion, 12th ~arines received a ~uwaitee
national, honorary rank of Lieutenant, prior to Operation
Desert Storm.   This officer was assigned for purposes of
in~erpretation should the unit take Iraqi prisoners or meet
up with ~uwaitee nationals/resistance fighters.  During the
actual offensive, the Battalion took many enemy prisoners of
war and Lt Saud was extremely valuable in the interrogation
of the prisoners and identification of Iraqi Officers.
     After the Battalion had moved to the )Cuwaitee
International Airport area and a cease:Łire was ordered, Lt
Saud requested to go into Xuwait City to see what damage had
been done to his home.   We received clearance to go into the
city and Lt Saud led a convoy of two HMWWV's with the
Battalion Commander, Sergeant Ma~o~, Headquarters Battery CO,
First Sergeant, 2 Drivers and 2 riflemen.  After we cleared
Lt Saud's horne (reports from local ICuwaitees indicated Iraqis
were still present in some of the homes), we saw that the
Iraqis had totally demolished the interior.  ~ot one thing
was left in intact.
     As I waited on the street while Lt Saud took inventory,
two ~uwa~tees came up to us.   Both were well dressed, one was
a doctor who had to continually escape from the Iraqis for
fear of being shot.   The elder Kuwaitee told me that se,eee
Kuwaitees died in Kuwait City and ie to 2~, eee Kuwaitee women
had been raped; but all that was not worth one American li~e.
}{e further said that they would not kill Iraqi prisoners
because that would bring them down to the Iraqi level.   Had
Iraq invaded the US and committed the same barbaric acts,   I
wonder how restrainted we could be.
     The other Kuwaitee had a little girl on his right side
and they were holding hands.   He told me his daughter (I
believe her name was ~oona and she was 3 1/2 years old) had
seen her mother and brothers killed and left on the street
for three days.  She was wearing a bla'ck outfit with red,
green and white design on the shirt (that I recognized w'as
the colors of the Kuwaitee flag).  She had a beautiful face
and as I reach for her hand to say `hi, what's your name
sweetheart?" She looked up at me with her big dark eyes, took
my hand in her little soft hand and said `thank you.' I was
kneeling by then and I felt my   eyes water because it was
obvious to me she knew -what had happened and I have two
daughters, age 5 and 9 months.   The First Sergeant, my
driver, and I were greatly moved.
     If anyone ever wants to know why we fought the agression
of Iraq, that was why!


                                R. W. Rivers
                                LtCol ~nCO 1/12