European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 25, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 4 a the stars and stripes monday March 25,1991 in the Gulf Gas hampers fighting of Oil Well fires Kuwait City apr Allied firefighting Crews battling 600 Oil Well fires in Kuwait have set two Wells ablaze to Burn off poisonous Hydrogen sulfite Gas the acting Oil minister said. The deadly Gas is seeping from several damaged Wells in Remote Western Kuwait complicating the Large scale firefighting efforts that began Friday a few Small fires set alight by the occupying iraqi forces already have been extinguished by the one Canadian and three american firefighting companies the Oil minister Rasheed Al Amiri told a news conference. But he cautioned that a the magnitude of the problem is becoming greater every Day a we think it will take one to two years to put out the fires but no one really knows a he said. A it could be longer.�?�. A a kuwaiti officials estimate they Are losing some 6 million barrels of Oil a Day Worth More than $100 million it will Cost an additional $1 million to $2 million a Day to fight the fires Al Amiri said. The most urgent task he said is to plug damaged Wells that Are not on fire but sire spewing huge amounts of Oil that is forming Black lakes of sludge. The lakes stretch across highways and have moved to within four Miles of some towns South of Kuwait City. A we Don t think they will reach residential areas but this danger exists and we must get to it quickly a the minister said. Quot there is no easy Way to clean up Oil lakes he said. One proposal is to build containing Walls around the spills and pump the Oil Back info the iraqis used explosives to set 600 Wells afire and damage dozens More of Kuwait s 1,000 Wells before they were driven out of the emirate by the coalition three weeks ago \. Al Amiri said the status of Many Wells is undetermined because iraqi mines and unexploded Allied Cluster bombs prevent close inspection of some Oil Fields. The billowing Black Clouds of toxic Gas turn Day into night and. Are creating enormous environmental problems. A a / a. A a a a. Al Amiri said his eyes nose and Throat Are constantly irritated by the 12 hours he spends each Day working in the greater Burgan Oil Fields about 25 Miles South of Kuwait City. But he does not think it will be necessary to evacuate nearby towns where residents have lived in almost permanent darkness since the Wells were torched. Officials of the environmental Protection Agency the world health organization and other groups Are in Kuwait assessing the Impact of the fires but have not released any findings. As the summer heat approaches breathing could become More difficult in some flak a texan working for the Kuwait Oil co., is supervising the firefighting efforts of the four companies a red Adair boots and Coots and wild Well control All of Texas and safety Boss of Calgary Alberta. A. A 1 a a a a a. A a a a a a a . Firefighters Joe Bowden left and Glenn Lavergne at work in Kuwait s Al Ahmadi Oil Fields. Once critical Nunn Calls go. Guardsmen heroes fort Stewart a a sen. Sam Nunn on saturday called members of the Georgia National guards 48th inf brigade heroes even though they did no to spend a Day in the persian Gulf. The Georgia Democrat earlier had criticized the soldiers for not being combat ready. But after a ceremony honouring the brigade the chairman of the Senate armed services committee said the 4,500-Mcmber brigade completed its extended training in the California desert a with flying a they deserve credit for what they be done a Nunn said. A i think they were very much a part of the Victory in the persian Gulf they were ready to go when called. They Are still ready to go when the 48th is the round out brigade for the army a 24th inf div Mech which was sent to the Gulf after iraqis aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait. In november the 48th was sent to fort Irwin calif., to. Train for possible deployment with the 24th. But the brigade spent nearly 60 Days at the a Tiona training Center a record in length of training. In Early february Nunn was among Many who complained that the 48th was not ready for combat. He said the brigades experience proved it is unrealistic to expect guard troops to be ready for Quick deployment to War zones. Gulf War service cited to support military Gays Washington. A forty House members have called on president Bush to a Send the military a shameful discrimination against homosexuals based on what they said was the service of 50,000 Gay american troops in the persian Gulf Warthe lawmakers Are urging an end to the military a policy of barring male homosexuals and lesbians from the armed services and discharging those found to be Gay. The letter was circulated by rep. Gerry a Studds d-mass., who is an acknowledged homosexual the number 50,000 used in the letter is based on the theory that 10 percent of the . Population is homosexual and therefore 10 percent of the 560,000 uniformed men and women who served in the Gulf Region would have been Gay. Maj. Doug Hart a defense department spokesman said that Pentagon policy regards homosexuality As incompatible with military service. A we Are not aware of any homosexuals who have served in operation desert shield or operation desert storm a Hart said. A if we were aware the people would be separated from the in the letter the lawmakers argue that Blacks were finally Given equal status in the military in 1948 despite Pentagon claims that integration would cripple the armed forces. A you have praised person incl. We urge you to afford our Gay arid lesbian troops that same Well deserved respect and to end the military a shameful discrimination a the lawmakers said. By Caryle Murphy the Washington Post Kuwait City a Ali Hussein Bourke is a used car dealer who liked to keep some of his inventory parked outside his House. Unfortunately for him the dozen or so vehicles he kept at Home caught the attention of occupying iraqi troops. I december Bourke was arrested after watching him came to suspect that he was stashing weapons for the kuwaiti resistance. For about a month Bourke said he was beaten and Given electric shocks on his earlobes As the iraqis questioned him. He was finally told that if he wanted to get out of jail he needed a a Bourke knew exactly what that meant. He called his brother who arranged for an iraqi a a lawyer to visit him in jail. The visitor calling himself Ghazi Roub Ayi told Bourke he was a retired iraqi army colonel Roub Ayi told the car dealer that his release would Cost 17,000 iraqi dinars about $51,000 at the official Exchange rate. Rou Bayis a Cut was $21,000, and the rest was for iraqi police officials Bourke said he was told. A $9,000 Down payment was made to Rou bavi and Bourke was released two Days later. Two hours after his release Roub Ayi showed up to collect the rest. Bour Kyd a experience was not unusual according to for Many kuwaitis when a kuwaiti was arrested by the iraqis one of the first things his family tried to do to win his release was to pay a Ransom. Iraqi military and police officials were often More than ready to Deal kuwaitis said taking Money cars video recorders and jewelry in Exchange for releasing those imprisoned. The More important the prisoner the higher the bribe required. A within the Kuwait invasion last August a it became known that everything was possible that everyone had a Price a one kuwaiti businessman said. Such corruption among iraqi officials no doubt was reinforced when they compared their penurious conditions Back Home to the wealth they saw in Kuwait thus it was possible for the kuwaiti resistance to gain the cooperation of Many iraqi military and police officers. They provided information in return for Money according to kuwaitis Active in the movement. Ransom negotiations usually took place through intermediaries. The iraqis often made it Clear that the Money was not Only for jailers but court and. Military officials some of them in Iraq kuwaitis said in interviews. A a kuwaiti woman who asked1 that her family not be identified because one member is still a prisoner in Iraq said that when three of her relatives were detained by iraqi intelligence a we started asking because6 Price we know iraqis will take Money the iraqi said he was looking for an american Sty far so we. Gave him a Cadillac a the woman said. A the he said he wanted a dinner party so we made for him dinner the iraqi also demanded a and received a 50,0 Iso oof cach detained relative or a total of Abri he said. Its not All for me its for the courts i the lawyers the woman recalled. Since her relatives had been ordered executed u i Uin Ormed the family that it would take about s a papers from Baghdad that Wou relatives to be released. Three Days anti Milf party 0ne relative called Home for the fir said three were freed a month later the worm a cfrw5alcu Bourke said that after paying Rou bavi i limited him Back for lunch the next Day. Boky said Roub Ayi told him there was one thir not. Understand. Why he asked did Hussen the 6 Emir ust give a race president Sadda a Hussein the Money he had demanded Saida we of a a the in is Taid his Quot Boutty said. A eth it Hill inn Lai .y1�?o had Eivin Saddam Hussein is billion this would t happen to your a
