European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 15, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                T $ i i4-3j m a 1 by Jules Loh the associated press. War is hell the old general observed.  he have foreseen the sort of modern War waged in the persian Gulf he might have a added that it also leaves a hell of a mess. As a result the allies Are still completing the Gulf War. Following desert shield and desert storm came desert sweep. A a a a without trumpet or Flag or according to its Leader,1 decedent an ail but unnoticed army of very careful technicians is in its second year of cleaning up thousands of tons of unexploded munitions scattered across the. Sand drifted Battlefield of Kuwait. What they have recovered so far a and they have a Long Way to go a is a measure of just How terrible was the Swift sword that vanquished iraqis forces in 100 Days and How awful a prolonged War might have become. By the end of 1992, they had dug out and destroyed 154,686 land mines cleared and Bac filled 57, 300 underground bunkers stacked with ammunition disarmed and hauled off 43 tanks 55 armoured personnel carriers and 1,700 other vehicles Many containing munitions stacked or blown up 5,751 tons of artillery shells 506 tons of missiles 1,096 tons of mortars 539 tons of Small arms ammunition and 986  assorted other explosives. A a a i. Quot that just in our sector the american sector Quot said Robert t. Tapp general manager and vice president of conventional munitions systems inc., the company cleaning up the american zone. A hours is the largest of seven sectors. Also the dirtiest Quot teams from other countries that backed Kuwait against Iraq have disarmed another 900,000 mines in their sectors. The Kuwait government divided the country into seven sectors defined generally by roads Power lines and such and contracted with separate members of the . Coalition to do the work in each sector. 1a a a the american sector is 1,950 Square Miles about the size of Delaware and double the average area of the other six. It includes Kuwait City its Airport the major Oil Fields and ammunition dumps and the places where most of the fighting took place. 1. The customary products of cams based , fla., Are warheads. It makes them then matches or integrates them with various rockets and bombs and other weapons among them the Patriot missile. A we d had plenty of experience recovering unexploded ordnance and cleaning up our own test ranges,11 Tapp said. A i figured if we knew How to put these things together we ought to be Able to take them  the government of Kuwait apparently agreed and on a a it a. A to a we Etc Quot. A a a a -3. Is amp a v v Quot Quot 0 a x4l>2 so i a a a. I a -. Pc a w a Quot Quot air i a k a Quot a a a a cams employee carefully disarms a mine. At right company general manager Robert Tapp holds a. Russian made mine White marking the american mine sweeping sector in Kuwait oct. 2,1991, it awarded cams a $134 million contract to clean up the mess and reclaim the ravaged land or at least a major part of it. The Job was to take 22 months and Tapp said it was about three months ahead of schedule. Desert sweep in one year according to Tapp has advanced by 10 years the Art of Eod explosive ordnance disposal to has had to to keep up with advances in the explosive ordnance to be disposed of. Mine detectors for instance have been Fine tuned to detect a  Metal As tiny As a ballpoint tip a firing pin in a piece of buried plastic the size of a biscuit that can blow the tread off a tank. Cams technicians have passed along their Detector improvements to the army. It still comes Down though to a steady human hand sliding an Ordinary bricklayers trowel beneath that lethal biscuit to feel for a. Booby trap wire to another mine nearby lifting it out and disarming it. The cams teams which number 478 including office support have suffered but one fatality although More than 50 of about 4,000 from other countries have been killed and about 70 injured. There also have been scores of civilian casualties. Tapp says that when cams finishes its work in Kuwait it has no intention of quitting its new found business. Not Only do dirty battlefields await in foreign lands he said but Quot right Here in America Are 17,000 what they Call fuds formerly used defense Sites. These Are old artillery ranges bomb ranges places that have to be cleaned up before they can be turned Back to civilian use there a plenty of business out  even for a company that makes bombs it seems there is a peace  Kuwait of land mines is risky business by Neil Macfarquhar the associated press As the restored iraqi tank grinds up and Down the kuwaiti Beach each pop of an exploding anti personnel mine under its tracks brings sighs of Relief from the pakistani soldiers who Are watching. That a one less mine to step on. Search teams using electronic sensors gingerly traverse the areas too wet for the tank. They wobble a Little like storks because of the six inches of rubber. Attached to the Bottoms of their regular boots intended to partially absorb the Shock of an exploding mine to keep the leg from being completely torn off. The Quot Mother of All Battles Quot never happened. But both victors and vanquished left behind enough land mines anti tank mines rocket propelled grenades unexploded bombs. Artillery shells tanks and barbed wire for the Mother of All cleanups. Army experts Are. Still amazed at the amount of ordnance pumped into Kuwait in the Short seven months of the iraqi occupation. Col. Mohammed Al Sirri spokesman for the kuwaiti ministry of defense estimates the total cleanup Job is about half done but believes that his country will never be mine free. Egypt Pakistan Bangladesh and Turkey each have about 1,000 army officers and enlisted men working while the Western sectors Are being cleaned by private contractors. Kuwait sometimes resembles its old self sometimes a Battlefield lacking Only the men. A the Quot Highway of death a where a fleeing iraqi Convoy was attacked by Allied bombers while the vehicles were sandwiched Between a desert pass and their own minefields was the starkest liberation Battlefield. The Sand the cars a everything a were burned a uniform Black. In the ensuing firestorm today on one Side of the Highway Tawny camels crunch Green shrubs where truck carcasses once stood. On the other charred blankets amputated bumpers and other flotsam of War poke out of the dunes the clean sector is pakistani the other  the pakistani sector looks like a raked picnic area but look at the egyptian Side and you d think there is still a War on Quot said Raymond Washer a 45-year-old British munitions expert. At night around drinks of homemade liquor a islamic Kuwait bans alcohol a some workers including one who lost a Finger express bitterness toward employers who negotiate Over injuries sustained during the dangerous nerve racking work. Quot so this Guy is tolling me my Index Finger is Only Worth $6,000,&Quot said an american Veteran who did not want his Namo used. Quot i Tell him it should to $10,000,1 asked him if i chopped off his Finger right there what would he think it was  employees resigned in Masse from one firm to protest the Lack of medical teams at one site. Explosions Are not the Only threat. Shootouts Between iraqi and kuwaiti police make the Border a volatile area to work. And munitions expert Chad Hall 50, of Houston Texas was abducted at gunpoint by iraqi Border police imprisoned in Iraq and interrogated Lor two Days in. October. Friday january 15, 1993 the stars Ano stripes Page 21