Waiting Game Ended With Bulletins on TV

It was a waiting game for most Americans. The midnight deadline came and went and when the bombing began Wednesday night, millions of Americans were glued to their TV sets. Some were in church. Some were on their way home from work or school.

Here is what some Americans were doing when war broke out:

Wali and Wakeelah Mutazammil were watching the television news in their Forestville, Md., home. Their 20-year-old son is in the Army and has been in Saudi Arabia since August.

“I can’t handle it,” Mrs. Mutazammil said through her tears. “This is not the answer. . . . I don’t understand why my child has to go through this. This country has done nothing for black men and now all of this for some oil. . . . This is so wrong. This is devastating.”

Geannie Forrest, an ambulance dispatcher in Tallahassee, Fla., whose husband is serving in the Persian Gulf, was drinking coffee with friends at home, watching CNN television news.

Her husband is Marine Reserve Gunney Sgt. Warren Forrest, a deputy sheriff shipped to the gulf four days after Thanksgiving and now commanding a tank on the front lines.

“A lot of the women whose husbands are over there have been calling me and I’ve been calling them. That’s about all we can do right now. I’m real proud of my husband for being a part of it. I’m really patriotic about it. But I’m scared.”

Bill Strachan, whose son, Bill, is with the Army’s 2nd Airborne Div. in Saudi Arabia, was at the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., offices of Operation Homefront, a support group for families and friends of the troops in the Middle East.

Members of the group were monitoring the television news.

“My son is over there,” Strachan said, unable to speak for a moment. “We were watching the news and then when the news came across that the bombings had started in Baghdad, of course, everyone focused on the television set and hugged and cried. I would say that right now we are emotionally trying to sort out our individual feelings on it.”

Terry Hendrixson was driving on Interstate 65 into Nashville, Tenn., listening to National Public Radio. He was taking his 4-year-old son, Seth, to McDonald’s and then to church.

“First thing I did was look at Seth and wonder if he’d go off someday to fight some war,” Hendrixson said. “Then I thought about how many 4-year-old boys were going to die tonight.”

Ian Watt, 20-year-old son of Penny Watt of Metairie, La., joined the Marine Corps after his high school graduation last May. He is a machine-gunner, stationed somewhere in Saudi Arabia.

“I was taking our VCR to be repaired when I heard the news,” Penny Watt said. “I started crying the whole way home. I am so scared right, now my stomach is doing flip-flops. You don’t carry a kid for nine months and then raise him to come back in a body bag. You got to have faith, that’s all.”

Tom Buckley, a stockbroker in Boston, rushed out of bar where he was watching television. As he hurried up the street to get back to his office, he yelled to a passerby, “The war just started! That’s why I’m running. I have things to do.”

“Disgusting,” said Dick Cornetta, an insurance adjuster who was having a beer in another Boston bar. “I’m against this whole mess.”

Arizona Gov. Rose Mofford was in a meeting when aides told her the news and brought in a radio for her to listen to, said her press secretary, Howard Boice.

“She’s now gone to church,” he said.

In Selma, Ala., Essie Mae Brown was watching television with some of her children and grandchildren. Her son, Johnny Mack Brown, is deployed in Saudi Arabia with the Alabama National Guard.

“I feel real hurt and sad, and all I can do is pray,” she said.

“Everything has stopped,” said Los Angeles City Management Analyst Jim Grant in his downtown office. “It almost reminds me of the (John F.) Kennedy assassination. Everything is stopped, nothing is getting done. Everyone is watching television or listening to the radio.”

Asked about the mood, he said: “Right now, I would say everyone is listening. I think we’re trying to find out what is going on.”