Leucadia Woman Dodges Tanks, Bullets, Soldiers in Desert Escape From Kuwait

EDITOR’S NOTE: Stephanie McGehee, a native of Leucadia, lived in Kuwait for 13 years and worked as a photographer for The Associated Press. She witnessed the Iraqi invasion, hid out for a week and led a convoy of Westerners in a dash across the desert to Saudi Arabia. This is her diary:

We made it! We made it! I jumped out of the car when the Bedouin guide told me we were in Saudi Arabia.

My companions whooped and hugged each other.

But most of us were sad for Kuwait, its people and the friends we left behind.

My joy could not erase the memories of recent days, starting with that awful Thursday morning of Aug. 2 when the bomb blasts shook me out of bed.

It was actually happening. The Iraqis were invading and their tanks were rumbling brazenly into Kuwait city.

I told my Canadian flatmate, Kathy McGregor, that the Iraqis were there and ran to the roof.

There was gunfire. The T-72s were rolling through the streets. The Iraqi soldiers stopped all motorists and pedestrians at gunpoint.

They yanked the mobile phones out of cars and threw them away. They shot at motorists who didn’t stop.

I called the AP with the news, then rushed back to the roof.

Iraqi army vehicles were heading to the oil area of al-Ahmadi. Helicopter gunships swooped low over the city. There was no sign of Kuwaiti troops.

The Iraqis were shooting indiscriminately. It was frightening.

At mid-afternoon, the Iraqis shelled the Sief Palace, the interior ministry and the parliament building. People were scared and confused. No one knew what to do.

The shelling shifted later to the residence of the emir, Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, and the palace of the Crown Prince, Sheik Saad Abdullah al-Sabah.

The Iraqis set up headquarters at the nearby Sheraton Hotel after kicking everyone out. Kathy and I had a sleepless night.

Aug. 3: Iraqi soldiers were on the rampage, looting, raping and murdering.

Some stranded British Airways crew members called Kathy.

They said an Indian flight attendant with British Airways was raped in a bus at a parking lot by Iraqis who threatened her with knives.

They said they saw her running into the SAS Hotel lobby and asking for a doctor.

Women panicked. The British Airways crewmen complained to an Iraqi general. He wanted the Indian girl to identify the rapists and promised to shoot them on the spot.

The girl couldn’t identify anyone. The general claimed the rapists were Iranians disguised as Iraqi soldiers.

Aug. 5: The looting intensified. Car showrooms, auto spare part shops, the Central Bank, jewelry shops, private villas and palaces were all ransacked.

The radio, now under Iraqi control, denounced the royal family and claimed the invaders were saving Kuwait from its corrupt rulers.

They said they would install a new regime. Kuwaitis wept.

Aug. 6: People were asking about the royal family. Were they safe? Had the Iraqis murdered them?

We were really scared. We left our beloved house and took refuge at an embassy. I can’t say which one for fear the Iraqis might harm the people who are still there.

Aug. 7: We moved to the SAS Hotel. Iraqi soldiers came and demanded a list of everyone in the hotel and their nationalities. The list was taken to an Iraqi major at the Royal Club Suite.

We decided the hotel was no longer safe. We left. I spoke Arabic to the Iraqis and they thought I was Arab.

We hid our passports in our shoes and sought refuge at another place, which I won’t name. We stayed underground for eight very long, very boring days.

Aug. 8: We started practicing self-defense--karate, how to stab with a knife if attacked, how to kick and disable an adversary. Survival was the keyword.

Aug. 9: We were glued to the radio. Practically cut off from the world, we wanted to know what was going on in Kuwait.

We knew that the U.S. Embassy was telling Americans to pack and be ready to leave. Was there any chance of evacuating safely? No one seemed to know.

Aug. 10: (Iraqi President) Saddam Hussein pledged to wage a jihad, or holy war, against America. Oh Saddam, give us a break!

Radio newscasts reported that most Islamic countries scoffed at this call.

The radio said that Saddam claimed the United States didn’t have enough military muscle to confront Iraq and alluded to chemical weapons as its ultimate means to crush America.

There was more looting. The Iraqis were filling buses, trucks and cars with stolen radio and television sets, furniture, chandeliers, everything they could lay their hands on.

Aug. 12: Food was scarce. Kuwaiti women were selling jewelry for cash.

Aug. 13: The Iraqis said all Western embassy personnel should leave for Baghdad. We were scared. The Iraqis apparently wanted to keep us hostage.

Aug. 14: I sneaked out for some fresh air. There were signs of Kuwaiti resistance and hit-and-run attacks.

The underground was gathering money and food, distributing it to anyone who needed them.

Graffiti on the walls reviled Saddam, told him to swallow his chemical weapons.

Aug. 15: I was seriously thinking of escaping. But we needed a foolproof plan, a four-wheel drive vehicle, water and food--plus a guide to get us across the desert.

Aug. 16: The Iraqis called U.S. nationals to gather at the International Hotel, the British at the Regency.

There was no way we were going to just give ourselves up to be transported to Baghdad.

A British woman, married to a Kuwaiti, called and offered to help with an escape.

We got a Bedouin guide. We contacted a number of friends--two Americans, a Briton, a Canadian and four Indians. They agreed to join us. Pretty soon we had more than 60 people ready to go.

Aug. 17: Lebanese friends filled our jeep with gasoline from their cars. Kuwaiti friends provided black chador robes and veils for disguise. Almost everyone put on Arab robes.

All the cars gathered at 10 a.m. and the great escape was on. We gave our dog a sleeping pill to keep her quiet and took the asphalt highway past Iraqi troops.

We were scared, but the guide reassured us. We were stopped at one checkpoint and the soldiers told us to go back.

We drove into the desert. But the Iraqis were there too.

They stopped us, demanded our identity cards and told us to go back.

We turned around, but tried another desert track. We played hide-and-seek with the Iraqis, dodging around troop camps without being spotted.

We saw many cars abandoned by people who had tried to get away. We never knew what happened to them.

Tanks were everywhere. We’d get through one sector, then regroup for the next dash.

We thought our luck had run out when we ran right into a tank formation. But we slipped through.

We discovered one of the cars was missing. The guide found it stuck in the sand--and Iraqi soldiers helping the Kuwaiti occupants pull it out.

The guide said two of the Iraqis were generals who apologized to the Kuwaitis for the invasion.

We headed off again. After several hours, we hit a solid road. Our guide turned to me, beaming, and said the most wonderful words I’ve ever heard: “No more dangers. You’re now in Saudi Arabia.”