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Looking For Trouble |
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March 14 |
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(Published March 15) THE noise of the tanks seemed to be coming from everywhere, the ground shaking as they rumbled across the desert, the sound of hundreds of tons of military machinery on the move seemed to go on for hours. In the early morning light, columns of armoured vehicles are on the move throwing up clouds of dust as they roll in from every direction. Yesterday they were gathering in the desert of Northern Kuwait to assemble for a special address by General Jim Conway, commander of the US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in the Gulf. But within days, those same tanks and armoured cars could be rumbling over the Iraqi border somewhere over the horizon a few miles to the north. The general was there to rally their spirits and to tell them why, if called upon, they should be prepared to fight against the armies of Saddam Hussein. Standing on a tank, he gave them the sort of barn-storming performance that only an American general could. They may be going to war, they may be afraid, but what they needed to remember, above all else, was that they were in the right and that they were rough, tough fighting men who would emerge victorious from whatever they faced in the coming weeks. The United States and Britain were the two great Western democracies, and if conflict came, their forces could rely on each other to ensure that victory was theirs. Suddenly, emerging out of the heat haze behind the general, two dots appeared over the horizon, growing larger by the second as they rocketed towards the assembled troops. The sound followed moments later, a deafening roar as two US marine Hornet jets screamed over the heads of the troops and climbed steeply away. Moments later, four Cobra attack helicopters thundered overhead. It was a good trick, and it worked. If anyone ever doubted the Americans have the weapons to back up their words, they did not doubt it any more. Later, back at their vehicles near the northern-most perimeter of their temporary homes a few miles from the Iraqi border, the men of 7 Platoon, B Company of the Black Watch were visibly impressed by the display of US military power they had just witnessed. The general's visit had been a resounding success. For Private Richard Clark, the general's stirring words and his party trick had focused his mind upon what he might be doing if diplomacy fails and Britain and the US go to war with Iraq. "Now and again you think about what is going to happen but we haven't dwelt on it," he said. "But there is a difference between training where you just fire rounds and this where there are people shooting back. You think you would take it in your stride but I'm sure I would be scared. There's nothing wrong with being a bit scared." The 19-year-old, from Dunfermline in Fife, thought the general had done his job well, and a few humorous and slightly irreverent comments thrown in for the benefit of the troops had gone down well. " It gave us confidence and boosted morale and I think it worked because it showed the hierarchy can have a laugh as well." The platoon has been in Kuwait only a couple of weeks, transferring to the desert from the relative comfort of their barracks in Fallingbostel in Germany. Equipped with Warrior armed cars, they would be at the forefront of any attack across Iraq's southern border. Although there is precious little time to get bored, platoon commander Lieutenant Alex Cooper said that the general's visit had played an important part in boosting morale. "I thought the general was good. I'd been hoping that there would be something like that. I was afraid it might be too much groin-thrusting Marine stuff but it wasn't," he said. "I haven't spoken to anyone who wasn't impressed by it - he was a great speaker and he held the audience and no-one could fail to be impressed. "I felt that he spelled out the US argument very well. As he said, we didn't suffer in the 11 September attacks but you can see the logic of us getting involved. I think the way he pitched it would have gone down well with the audience." But if the general's visit was good for morale, it was also a sobering reminder that the time for talking could be coming to an end. "Since we have been here people have been wanting to go into action - they haven't had time to think about the mechanics of the fighting," said Lieutenant Cooper. "We won't feel the fear of the moment until we are there, but then everyone will experience it, definitely." For Michael Donnelly, a 20-year-old lance corporal from Fife with two years service to his name, the decision of such a senior US military commander to take time out to address Britain's fighting forces was also a confirmation that whatever the politicians might say, if America goes to war with Iraq, then it will be with British troops by their side. "I think he turned up to speak to let us know the cause we are going in for and to let us know what is happening," he said. "It brings it all into reality - it's the first time we have had a brief like that and it made me feel like I was a part of it all. That speech made me feel a bit more confident that they need us as much as we need them."
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Original copy The United States’ most senior general in the Gulf yesterday took time out to address the massed ranks of Britain’s forces in the Kuwaiti desert and to give the clearest sign yet that war with Iraq is imminent and that British troops will be expected to play a key role in whatever action the military commanders are planning to take. In what amounted to a call to arms, the commanding General of the 1st US Marine Expeditionary Force, General Jim Conway, flew in by helicopter to address troops from the 7th Armoured Brigade and the 16th Air Assault Brigade at a camp near Kuwait’s northern border with Iraq. [Camp Coyote] With the British tanks, armoured cars, artillery and other heavy machinery drawn up in front of him the General stood on a tank to deliver a gutsy speech designed to raise the spirit of the men who, if war comes, will play a key role in any attack on Iraq and set out the reasons why the United States believes that force may be necessary to disarm Saddam Hussein. The US had suffered the terrible effects of terrorism at first hand on 11 September, he told them, and President George Bush was not prepared to stand by and let other terrorists get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein had been given a chance, he said, and his choice was to get rid of weapons of mass destruction or face war. But after days of speculation that the US might be prepared to go to war with Iraq without Britain’s help, he was eager to stress the importance that the US placed on British involvement. “Two hundred and twenty five years ago in my country the expression ‘The British are coming’ used to scare the children. When we were here in December and heard that the British were coming it was very different. It’s good to have you all aboard,” he told them. And if war came, he said, Britain and the US would triumph because they had better troops, better weapons and the ability to defeat the Iraqi army. Military commander worried about a lot of things, he said, but the ability of the troops to do what was asked of them was not one of those worries. The British forces and the Marines under his command were all professionals, he said, and they were there because they had volunteered and because they had chosen to do that. It was a speech as much designed to raise morale as to give the British troops specific information about what they would be expected to do in any conflict, but the General was keen to stress the morale justification for any action which might come. The US had been attacked by terrorists on 11 September and people had had to watch as the Pentagon burned and the Twin Towers came down and that had made the US President look around at who had weapons of mass destruction. “He is from the state of Texas and they like to keep things very simple – they are either right or wrong,” he said. And he told them that as the other great Western democracy, Britain was not immune to the same terrorist threat faced by the US. Publicly, no one is saying when – or even if – the US and British troops will go into action but privately the feeling is that they will, and that war will begin within days. British troops are in position and ready for action and although their leaders do not want to give Saddam Hussein’s forces any advantage by revealing their battle plan in advance, they will already have a very clear idea of what their objectives will be. General Conway said that whatever happened in the coming days, those troops assembled in front of him would look back on their time in the Gulf as one of the most significant moments in their lives. “How you do will govern how you see yourself, how your mates see you and how your family sees you,” he said. If war came, he said, fear would be a natural emotion which they had to consider, but if they were to be afraid of anything, it should be the fear of failing to do their duty. “Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to control it,” he said.
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(News copy published March 15) THE US's most senior general in the Gulf yesterday took time out to address the massed ranks of Britain's forces in the Kuwaiti desert and to give the clearest sign yet that war with Iraq is imminent and that British troops will be expected to play a key role in whatever action the military commanders are planning to take. In a call to arms, the commanding general of the 1st US Marine Expeditionary Force, General Jim Conway, flew in by helicopter to address troops from the 7th Armoured Brigade and the 16th Air Assault Brigade at a camp near Kuwait's northern border with Iraq. With the British tanks, armoured cars, artillery and other heavy machinery drawn up in front of him, the general stood on a tank to deliver a gutsy speech designed to raise the spirit of the men and set out the reasons why the US believes that force may be necessary to disarm Saddam Hussein. The US had suffered the terrible effects of terrorism at first hand on 11 September, he told them, and President George Bush was not prepared to stand by and let other terrorists get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein had been given a chance, he said, and his choice was to get rid of weapons of mass destruction or face war. But after days of speculation that the US might be prepared to go to war with Iraq without Britain's help, he was eager to stress the importance that the US placed on British involvement. "Two hundred and twenty five years ago in my country the expression, 'the British are coming' used to scare the children. When we were here in December and heard that the British were coming it was very different. It's good to have you all aboard." And if war came, he said, Britain and the US would triumph because they had better troops, better weapons and the ability to defeat the Iraqi army. Military commanders worried about a lot of things, he said, but the ability of the troops to do what was asked of them was not one of those worries. The British forces and the Marines under his command were all professionals and they were there because they had volunteered and because they had chosen to do that. General Conway said that whatever happened in the coming days, those troops assembled in front of him would look back on their time in the Gulf as one of the most significant moments in their lives. "How you do will govern how you see yourself, how your mates see you and how your family sees you," he said. If war came, he said, fear would be a natural emotion which they had to consider, but if they were to be afraid of anything, it should be the fear of failing to do their duty. |