KUWAIT: Memories of Gulf War I were overshadowed in Kuwait yesterday by preparations for Gulf War II, reports Jack Fairweather.
Yesterday marked the 12th anniversary of the beginning of the allied air campaign against Iraqi forces during the first Gulf War, but the significance of the date was all but forgotten in Kuwait. With President George Bush authorising the deployment of 62,000 troops earlier in the month, the pace and scale of American military preparations for a second war against Iraq has left no time to acknowledge the anniversary.
The number of US troops is set to double by the end of the month with most of the forces bound for Kuwait and the ring of military camps that have been set up along the border with Iraq. The troops have already begun to arrive in Kuwait in their thousands.
Civilian buses with the blinds pulled driving from the airport to the desert camps, with telltale fleets of Humvees and Kuwaiti police cars, have become an almost hourly occurrence.
According to a spokesperson for the commercial carrier employed to transport military personnel, operations to bring in troops from the US are going on around the clock. "We just can't fly quick enough to get them here on time," said the spokesperson.
At Shuwaikh port, two giant US cargo ships unload their equipment for the 1st Marine expeditionary force - already several thousand-strong in Kuwait and to be joined by the rest of the 45,000 force in the coming weeks.
Each of the two ships' six decks is packed with what one military official supervising the unloading described as "every kind of shit you need to wage war".
"We've got Humvees, M1 Abrams tanks, bulldozers, bridging equipment and flat-packed 155mm howitzers. Its pretty awesome, isn't it?" said the official.
The squadron of cargo ships belonging to the maritime prepositionary force expected to dock over the next couple of days will have enough equipment to supply 17,000 marines with enough supplies to last for 30 days of full combat.
Out in the desert where the marines will be reunited with their equipment and begin training, the four main military camps as well as Camp Commando, the marine base, are swelling to make room for the new arrivals.
A defence contractor working on expanding the camps and adding creature comforts said: "Have we reached saturation point yet? I don't think so. There's space for a lot more of our boys out there, and besides, once the order is given to march on Baghdad, this place is going to become a ghost-town."
That prospect may come as a relief to most Kuwaitis who have found themselves almost as forgotten about as the anniversary of the start of the first Gulf War, as their country is turned into one vast military camp.
The scale of the preparations has brought a sombre and at times fearful mood to Kuwait, where earlier there was jubilation at the thought of removing President Saddam Hussein.
Rumours have abounded that communication blackouts will be routinely enforced to prepare for the opening of a military campaign, and that commercial flights to and from Kuwait will be rationed in the coming weeks to make way for the increasing number of US military aircraft.
Tea cups are raised at the diwaniya, the traditional forum for political discussions, to the anniversary but most thoughts are firmly fixed on the future date for war against Iraq.
"I hope that it is soon," said Jasim al-Azmi, who was in Kuwait city during the allied air campaign 12 years ago.
"I have heard the sound of American bombs falling and it struck fear into me then. Now as a country we must be strong and not be scared when we hear the sounds of bombs again."
Another Kuwaiti said: "We understand what the Americans are doing and why they are doing it. Everyone is happy at the thought of getting rid of Saddam. We would have liked though to be told what our country was going to be used for before it became an American military base."