European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 18, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Muammar Qadhafi alone in the worldly Kim Murphy los Angeles times Moa mar Qadhafi took a whack at one of the Security guards holding Back the photographers parted the line of armed soldiers standing along the Edge of the stage and stood mugging and preening before a cast of thousands for his Star spangled laser lit orchestra thumping production. Anywhere else in the world it would have been the simple opening of a water pipeline but in this land of revolution and Mirage it became the great Man made River. Cascades of water tumbled into a newly dug Reservoir to the strains of Dvorak and Ravel. Thousands of libyans hauled into the desert for the event poured off buses and into the rising water As Qadhafi looked on. Posters for the event depicted Happy camels and horses munching Lush greenery with the Greeling Quot Welcome to the Sahara Quot and in another exhibit an Arab child with his foot resting triumphantly atop the broken helmet of a dead american Pilot. An Oil painting showed an american Soldier in a fiendish death mask blood trickling Down from fiercely clenched Teeth. Quot this historic achievement has been made amid the sanctions and blockades of the imperialists Quot Qadhafi proclaimed. Quot the sound of this River in this minute is stronger than that of any Fleet or any Strong person on this  the $20 billion pipeline is designed to carry massive quantities of water across 1,200 Miles of desert from Remote aquifers in the Southern Oil Fields to the populous coast and turn thousands of acres of Sand into Fertile farm Fields. Fields he said that would make Libya never again have to depend on the West for food. However the. Project is costing the country More than it would to import the food it will produce and could exhaust underwater reserves before it begins paying for itself foreign diplomats Sard. The great Man made River billed As the Symbol of self sufficiency for the new third world was designed largely by a  action line engineering affiliate and built by South koreans. Libya s Oil Industry is so badly squeezed by . Sanctions that production is expected to decrease Over the coming years despite huge untapped reserves beneath the desert. Many libyans themselves have grown weary of Qadhafi a a revolutionary rhetoric and the libyan Leader found himself in sad and lonely company last month when he applauded the attempt to oust soviet president Mikhail s. Gorbachev whom he accused of abandoning the world s oppressed. No european Leader showed up for the pipelines debut despite personal invitations extended by senior libyan ministers. Only Libya s immediate neighbors and a few minor african republics sent Heads of state. King Hassan of Morocco arrived Fate. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt left Early Moa mar Qadhafi the terror wielding bedouin has become in Many ways irrelevant. Quot Qadhafi needs the Western world More than Ever a said a Western Diplomat in the libyan capital of Tripoli. Quot but the Western world can do without  during the persian Gulf crisis the outspoken colonel exercised nearly unprecedented self restraint and declined to weigh in on the Side of iraqi president Saddam Hussein instead making relatively moderate statements urging against War in the Gulf. Many Here attribute this to the Stern intervention of Mubarak who has attempted libyan Hadar Moa mar Qadhafi left Caia Brataas tha opening of the Quot great Man made River Quot with egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. To act As an intermediary in an attempt to mend relations Between Libya and the United states. A Mubarak Maka him a said one Rubyan businessman grinning and making a zipping motion Over his Mouth. Qadhafi said diplomats in Libya was stung by the outcome of the Gulf War both by iraqis miserable defeat and the soviet Union s endorsement of the Allied coalition that drove Iraq out of Kuwait. Despite recent rapprochement with neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt they said at no time has Libya Felt itself quite so alone. In a rambling address earlier this month to military cadets on the 22nd anniversary of his revolution Qadhafi announced that he was cutting Back enlistment periods for where a the mail from desert storm it a during operations desert shield and desert storm i sent a number of parcels to my brother in Law using the military postal service maps. Some he received and others he did not. The food items he did t receive Are of Little concern to me now. However i sent him several expensive items Lor his birthday that he never received. In be talked to a number of my friends and associates who had i tie same experiences i have some Basic questions a where is Alt this mail a Why can t it be accounted for and returned to the sender7 a what is currently being done to unravel the mess7 a did other nations armed forces have the same problem or was it just the United states7 i want the military to account for those items arid have been unable to get a satisfactory response Bill Mcdillon Heidelberg Germany u Barbara Lutz postal services analyst . Army postal group replies i think most people Are aware that i Here were problems with mail delivery in Southwest Asia. The mail volume exceeded the transportation resources that were available to deliver it. Mail that did not Quot catch up Quot to a particular Soldier was sent to his or her major command either in Europe or the United states. Our Post offices Here in Europe did receive Large volumes of undeliverable mail from saudi Arabia. What did we do with it we forwarded the mail to the Soldier Here in Europe if we found a valid address which we usually did we also set up a special directory Section at our group Headquarters for hard to find soldiers using an automated system that contained All Active duty soldiers assigned to Europe we were Able to Forward most of the mail that was returned from Southwest Asia when we could t find a forwarding address we returned the mail to the sender we Are still receiving mail from saudi Arabia to process the other countries armed forces who were in Southwest Asia were there in substantially lower numbers than  forces and their mail volumes were not As heavy i have no a formation on whether they experienced military service in favor of an army of civilian guerrillas because of his new conviction that conventional War with the West is useless. Then even after the hostile International reaction to his premature message of congratulations to the perpetrators of the ill fated soviet coup Qadhafi declared Quot politically what have we benefited from Gorbachev Why should we congratulate him Why this hypocrisy who sent the jews to Palestine who approved the crushing of Iraq after leaving Kuwait who gave the . The Chance to rampage worldwide imposing its Hegemony on us All this is so because the soviet Union has Given Over the reins and has surrendered without  ironically Western diplomats in Tripoli said there Are indications that Rubya supplied Jet fuel to saudi Arabia during the Gulf War some of which Likely fuelled . Planes in their bombing runs against Iraq. Libya earned $12 billion in Oil revenues last year. But because of the chronic absence of . Technology it was unable to gear up production beyond its maximum level of 1.55 million barrels a Day to take advantage of soaring prices during the Gulf crisis. Production from older wets is declining new drilling is virtually nonexistent and some experts say that without  know How production could drop to As Little As half a million barrels a Day by the end of the 1990s. Problems with their mail. I should Point out that the conditions in Southwest Asia caused some packages to be damaged in handling. In Many of those cases the contents became separated from the package and  be delivered such items Are returned to the . Postal service s dead parcel Branch where they Are held for 90 Days. If the owner a sender or addressee a cannot be identified the items Are disposed of. If we can be of further assistance please Contact us at ets 379-7837 or 7643 or write to commander . Army postal group Europe attn Teupe Page Ops Apo 09186 a to write us readers action line is the readers Quot court of last resort Quot striving to answer some of the questions about life overseas in a military environment or questions about policies and guidelines when other avenues for answers Are not readily available. If you have a question and Don t know where to turn for the answer write to readers action line co the stars and stripes Apo 09211-4211 All letters must be signed and preference will be Given to those seeking information of general interest to our readers