Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Sense of War Begins to Dawn for Troops, Civilians in Kuwait
U.S. Buildup Makes Threat of Conflict Harder to Ignore:
This is a time of strange contrasts in Kuwait, a country that during the Persian Gulf War of 1991 desperately awaited the arrival of U.S. troops and now anxiously anticipates the departure into Iraq of massing American forces. Kuwait today is really two countries. One is a northern military zone under the control of a foreign superpower and put off-limits to most civilians beginning last weekend. The other is the jittery preserve of a pampered people.
A few weeks ago, war was a hazy worry, an abstraction despite the tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers and their weapons rolling into Kuwait as part of a force that will soon number more than 100,000 in a country with just 800,000 native citizens. In recent days, war has begun to seem real.
I grew up in Kuwait. My dad still works there. I pray it will not come to war.
posted by Kensy |
5:29 AM
|