I woke up August 2, 1990 to find myself without a country. The Iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait; I was only 12 at that time. My dad left for Saudi Arabia as Iraqi soldiers were after him. The Iraqis had a list of names of people they wanted so they were everywhere chasing also famous singers and football players to make them part of the Iraqi team and others! My mom, my two brothers and I all went to live in the basement of my aunt’s house with seven other Kuwaiti families.
Iraqis were breaking doors to get men between 16 and above (military age). I remember my mom hiding my two brothers in the water tanks, and they used to stay there for hours. She was afraid the Iraqis would take them and she wouldn’t be able to see her sons after that. It was September around 4 pm I was looking through the only window we had in the basement. I saw two Iraqis carrying a black trash bag ring the bell of our neighbor’s house. Our neighbors, unfortunately, had left their house so the Iraqis placed the bag in front of the door and left.
The bag did not stand for long before it fell on the floor and it was open, and there I saw our neighbor‘s, my brother’s friend, body covered with blood, it layed there, he was dead. Haytham was only 18 years old and just graduated from high school and was planning to go study in London. I froze in my place. It was my first time to see a dead body. I did not tell anyone about it. Two days passed and then my aunt’s husband told us the bad news. I acted as if I just knew. I was scared; I did not know what to do. That picture shocked me and I have not been able to forget it for the past 12 years.
My twin cousins were taken as well and the Iraqi soldiers cut off their ears and broke their arms in front of their mom. Not only that, the soldiers took their 65-year-old dad and tortured him by electrical shocks and hung him upside down until he start bleeding from his nose. They also put out their cigarettes on his bold head.
In November, my mom was very scared with all the news about chemical weapons so we start making masks out of coals. We put the coal in towels and stitch the towels; we knew that was not enough, but thought it might help. Iraqi soldiers were burning houses and stealing anything they could carry. They also raped girls in front of their brothers as a torture to make them speak up, They also went into hospitals and killed the babies and stole the incubators.
The end of November we decided to leave for Saudi Arabia. We left home at 5 am traveling through the desert in a van driven by a bedwin man. The Iraqi soldiers were chasing us with guns and tanks!! It took us six hours to get to the border although it usually takes an hour and a half. We took the long zigzag way to avoid the check points in the desert.
Kuwait was liberated on Feb 26, 1991, thanks to all Americans for their help. My uncle escaped from Iraq prison in 1991 during the desert storm operation. He lost his memory a month after that, his brain cells were damaged from the torture. His twins are still in the Iraqi prison. My uncle passed away 2 years ago and did not have the chance to see his twins neither did their mom. This is only one of the Kuwaiti tragedies, we still have 600 prisoners of war in Iraqi jails, let’s all pray they’re alive.
Twelve years have passed since the Kuwait liberation, I’m 24 years old, I graduated from college in the States and just got married. I am glad I lived until I saw Saddam loose his power and is, hopefully, dead. Again Thanks To all Americans. I also would like to congratulate the Iraqi people and lets all appreciate the freedom we have.
Yasmine
