European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 14, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Assignment persian Gulf 1�?~v Ltd the fragile desert floor la being scarred by spreading takes of Oil the tracks of heavy equipment and a coating of Soo poisoned skies continued irom Page 3. Concentrations of deadly Hydrogen sulfite will take a particularly Long time to extinguish because workers must Wear air tight gear and will need frequent Breaks. Adair said that unless changes Are made i could take twice As Long to finish the Job As Kuwait s government predicts. The firefighting companies themselves have not escaped criticism. Some firms have accused the big three firefighters of hoarding All the work and squeezing out the Competition one kuwaiti official who asked not to be identified hinted that the firefighters Are dragging their feet so that their lucrative contracts will last As Long As possible. Some competitors agree. A i can t name names because i done to know for sure but i think it s suspicious that three Texas based companies whose owners have known each other for years get All the business in a Job that 20. Companies could make a lot of Money on a said Jack Sullivan of Aztec International a new Oil Field company Sullivan said his company had been informally promised a firefighting contract after he offered the kuwaitis to be paid on a per Well basis the Texas companies Are paid a hat rate regardless of How fast or How Many Wells they extinguish a a a the longer it takes to extinguish the Wells the More Money the companies stand to make Quot after word spinal that i was willing to to paid based on How productive my company is we suddenly got the cold shoulder from Kuwait Oil company Quot Sullivan said. A kuwaiti official with the Oil company said the company was aware of Sullivan a accusations. Quot we re looking into this matter Quot he said. For the people of Ahmadi the politics of Oil fires matters less than surviving the smoke. The residents mostly unemployed palestinians have pleaded with the kuwaiti government to evacuate them. A the government refuses to take responsibility for these people Quot said Bailey who has spent time in Ahmadi. Quot if these were wealthy people or just kuwaiti citizens. I m willing to bet they would have been evacuated As soon As possible Bui the government says it is a matter of equity not discrimination. The government will not pay for relocation because Quot it would not be Lair to those who paid their own Way out of there Quot said an Interior ministry official in Kuwait City Only few Miles from Ahmadi. The ominious Black sky has become merely a dirty Haze even the eve present odor of burned Oil can t completely stifle the hint of fresh air brought in by the breezes. These Are Good Days in Kuwait and thanks to persistent summer winds there have had More Good Days than bad the last Lew months an air of Hope is rising from the blackened Homes and streets a sense Thal perhaps the worst is Over for a nation that is n minded with every breath of the brutality of the Xiuqi occupation. Even polluted skies and a coating of Oil can to dim a child a soldiers continued irom Page 7 travels on the wind for thousands of Leet the final process is perhaps the most dangerous. As a Crane lifts a new Well head Over the gushing pipe two or three men guide the Cap Onlo the eight Inch Well head with Oil blasting out at up to 8 000. Pounds of pressure As the Oil spews out a seemingly unstoppable Rale the Dollar value of the holocaust becomes Crista dear the kuwaiti government estimates that $120 million in Oil is lost each Day. About $18 billion of Kuwait s livelihood is now just so much noxious matter floating in the Eastern hemisphere. At first it seemed like such a huge waste of Money. We Felt like we had to get these things out real Quick Quot said Clayton Berry of Lafayette. But after a while you get kind of numb it does t matters much that you just put out your tenth Lively. Or even your fiftieth when Over your shoulder there s hundreds More still burning Quot Pano it the stars and stripes sunday. July 14. 1991
