European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Fourteen americans released last week by Iraq Board cars for Baghdad Airport Enro Ute to  the american embassy iraqis demonstrate at . Embassy in Baghdad. A amps graphic by John f. Burns new York times at the United states embassy in Baghdad it has become an almost daily ritual crowds of protesters Are bused in by the government from across the City to shout slogans against president Bush against America and against what the demonstrators have been told is an american policy of starving Iraq because of its occupation of Kuwait. The american Flag still hangs limply in the hot breezes but otherwise much at the embassy has changed. Mindful happened t0 the american embassy in Tehran in 1979, when protests gave Way to a mob storming the Mission and taking the diplomats hostage diplomats inside the Cluster of stucco buildings Here have taken elaborate precautions. Classified documents have been shredded and the shredded paper has been burned. The embassy a detachment of Marine guards has left the country and their weapons have been destroyed. Equipment for validating visas and passports has been smashed and the station chief for the Central intelligence Agency whose name was already known to the iraqi authorities under agreements Between the two governments has loft. Concerns about what might happen if War broke out Over Kuwait Are never far away but do not appear so far to have eroded morale. For one thing the diplomats Here have their eyes fixed on their Small band of colleagues in the american embassy in Kuwait with dwindling stocks of water and food. T food in Baghdad is plentiful and unlike the situation in Kuwait there is Only a Token iraqi army presence outside the Baghdad Mission usually two soldiers with ak-47 rifles maintaining a seemingly Friendly vigilance. Still there Are few assumptions about the future Quot just because they have so far you done to blithely assume that the iraqis will respect diplomatic protocols forever a a Diplomat said. Quot its like a Baghdad version of musical chairs you done to want to be Here when the music  even the protests have been turned into an occasion for Relief with one of the six Baghdad based diplomats who remain Here Stephen j. Thibeault venturing through the Wall that surrounds the embassy to debate with the demonstrators. Thibeault 38, is an assistant Public affairs officer whose previous Job was a 14-year stint at the Boston Public Library but his approach in the Street has been decisively a Bookish. Y Quot Why is Uday not in the army a he asked one Day during a Lull in the chants. His reference was to Uday Hussein the oldest son of president Saddam Hussein whose activities including the reported shooting in a october 1988 of the chief of his father s Security detail have been controversial even by the lurid standards of Baghdad s ruling elite. Thibeault a Stocky figure with a Shock of curly Reddish hair has offered other riposte. Quot Why does the iraqi army have milk he asked when hundreds of women and children lined up to chant against Bush a decision As Iraq has described it to use the United nations Trade embargo to deny iraqi children milk. In fact stores in Baghdad have plentiful supplies of fresh and powdered milk if at higher than usual prices and United nations embargo rules allow Baghdad to ask International Relief agencies for More at any time. Ia/j-i16 pro test ave also Given the embassy a Mascot. While the crowds were gathered one Day an iraqi staff member sneaked outside. Beneath an embassy car she found a Kitten apparently abandoned by its Mother in fright. The Ginger and White Kitten is now fed with a Pipette by diplomats and american reporters using the information Agency s offices. Scouting for a name the diplomats fixed on the most frequently shouted slogan at the protests a Bush Bosh Quot Quot Bush is nothing a the Kitten is called Bosh. Under Joseph c. Wilson charge do affaires at the embassy in the absence of ambassador april c. Glaspie who was on vacation when the invasion of Kuwait a occurred the embassy has taken on unusually diverse functions. Among other things it serves As a dormitory for some of the 54 american diplomats and dependents mostly adult sons who were evacuated from Kuwait in August then denied permission to leave Iraq. A with direct contacts Between the embassy and Saddam s government Over the Kuwait crisis Only sporadic the diplomats most pressing work has been in assisting As Many As possible of the 1,000 non diplomatic american men who were caught up in Iraq and Kuwait when the invasion occurred. In some cases this has involved arranging a Safe Haven Quot for the men in diplomatic residences. In others it has meant chartering iraqi aircraft to Fly would be evacuees from Kuwait to Baghdad and Onward to the United states. The Only men permitted on these flights so far have been Arab americans Arab men married to american women or Arab men with american children. Quot Reault a most difficult assignment has been at the Mansour Melia hotel in Central Baghdad where foreign men Are briefly held by the iraqis before being taken As hostages to military bases and other strategic slips. The american Diplomat with his time sometimes severely limited by the iraqis gathers personal details about the men takes messages for their families and seeks information on medical problems. He also offers privacy act waivers in Case they want details of their plight passed on to  16 the stars and stripes monday october 29,1990