A Tale of two Cities - Dammam, Saudi Arabia and Manama, Bahrain

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity . . . it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair . . . in short, the period was so far like the present period . . . .

Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

It was a sunny Tuesday morning, the blue sky had cotton candy clouds and a cool breeze was blowing. The date was 15 January, 1991. Kuwait was under occupation by the Iraqi army. The Americans where mobilizing for the start of the ground war. The air war had already commenced and the latest technology in air warfare was pitted against the WWII equipped Iraqi army. CNN was broadcasting all over the Gulf Countries and people where glued to their televisions watching as events unfolded.

I was in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. I needed to go to Manama, Bahrain urgently, my current place of residence.

I had a large heavy Delsey suitcase with all my clothes and miscellaneous items in it. Airplane flights where sporadic, civilian planes where allowed or barred from flying at the whim of the US Central Command based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia managing and commanding Desert Storm, the name of the exercise to liberate Kuwait. Today, civilian planes where not allowed to fly.

My only option was to cross the King Fahad causeway, linking Bahrain to Eastern Saudi Arabia. I flagged down a Taxi, and told him, "take me to Manama, Bahrain". He gave me a strange look and told me it was impossible, "Why?", I asked, he replied, "Taxis are not allowed through". "Hmm, ok, drop me at the causeway passport booth, I will walk to Bahrain". He gave me a look, probably thinking, "crazy Kuwaiti" but drove me to the passport booth. The causeway was around 10 to 15 kilometers long. I walked greater distances before. I could probably walk it dragging my heavy suitcase.

I unloaded my suitcase, my Kuwait passport ready in my dishdasha front pocket, and presented my passport to the passport official, he took it and asked for my car registration. "I don't have a car, I am going to walk my way", I answered like it was a normal sane option. "Sorry, I cannot process this", he answered and threw my passport back at me. "Ok, if I have a car, would you let me through?", "yes", he answered tersely and looked away. I walked to the other side of the booth and waited for someone to drive by and give me a ride. The passport officer, shouted from his booth, "You can't stand here, go away". Never to piss off an official, I dragged my suitcase and went down the road, where I was no so visible to him. I saw a Kuwaiti car approaching. I could tell it was a Kuwaiti car because the license plates where removed, it was sand colored because of the dust and desert dirt that stuck to it. The passengers where a family of six, the mother and father sitting in the front, 3 kids in the back and their Indian maid trying to control the boisterous kids. They looked like they have just come out of Kuwait.

I waved at them with my passport, hoping they might stop and help a compatriot in trouble, no luck, they pretended not to see me and sped in front of me. I cannot blame them, they probably escaped from Kuwait taking the desert route, avoiding the formal borders manned by the Iraqis, risking car breakdown in the middle of the desert, land mines or other unknown dangers.

Other cars passed in front of me, no one stopped. The sun was becoming hotter and it was getting near noon. I was wearing a white cotton summer dishdasha with white ghitra and iqal, I lowered my ghitra as the sun became more intense. I saw an olive green Saab coupe approaching with a single driver. It had Bahraini license plates, with 3 digits, possibly meaning that driver was a member of the Bahrain Royal family or a powerful Bahraini business man. I waved him down, and ... to my surprise ... he stopped. He rolled down the automatic passenger window, "Where do you want to go?", "just to Manama" I answered. "Ok, get in". The automatic trunk opened and I threw my suitcase in and got in the Saab. The driver was wearing an impeccable starched dishdasha and ghutra. He had gold bazmas (cufflinks) at the end of his sleeves, and a solid gold rolex watch, with a diamond border. I sunk in the beige leather contour seat. The radio was off but the air conditioning was turned on to the max. It felt good after standing in the sun for over an hour.

It was a quiet ride, no small talk, no talk about politics,no probing questions on what I was doing hitch hiking to Manama from Saudi Arabia I just sat and looked at the blue Gulf out of my window.

we presented our passports to the Saudi officials, they let us through.

Fifteen minutes later, we where on the Bahraini side of the causeway, again our passports where presented, and we quickly passed through. A convoy of gigantic US army trucks coming from Saudi Arabia passed us driving full speed, as if there was no border. All military vehicles at the time where allowed free access all over the Kuwait theater of Operations (KTO), meaning all the Arabian peninsula, without any interference from the civilian authorities.

We drove on into Manama and he dropped me in front of my apartment building, I thanked him profusely and he nodded acknowledging my thanks.

I was back in Manama at my temporary home.

The Invasion and Liberation of Kuwait

2 August 90 Iraq invades Kuwait.

At the break of dawn on August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops crossed the Kuwaiti border with armor and infantry, occupying strategic posts throughout the country, including the Emir's palace. The Kuwaiti Army was quickly overwhelmed, though they bought enough time for the Kuwaiti Air Force to flee to Saudi Arabia. The heaviest fighting occurred at the Emir's Palace, where members of the royal guard fought a rear guard action to allow the royal family time to escape. A cousin of the Emir, who commanded the guard, was amongst those killed. Iraqi troops looted medical and food supplies, detained thousands of civilians and took over the media. There were reports of incidents of murder, bruatality, and rape being committed by Iraqi troops against Kuwaiti citizens. After a brief puppet government headed by Alaa Hussein Ali was installed, Iraq annexed Kuwait. Saddam Hussein then installed a new Iraqi provincial governor, describing this as "liberation" from the Kuwaiti Emir; this was largely dismissed as war propaganda.



6 August 90 U.N. Security Council Resolution 661 imposes economic sanctions against Iraq. Saudi Arabia requests U.S. assistance in its defense.



7 August 90 Operation Desert Shield begin.



8 August 90 The first U.S. forces arrive in Saudi Arabia.

9 August 90 U.N. Security Council Resolution 662 declares the Iraqi annexation of Kuwait null & void.

25 September 90 U.N. Security Council Resolution 670 condemns Iraq & confirms the economic embargo.

28 November 90 U.N. Security Council Resolution 677 condemns Iraqi attempts to alter Kuwaiti demographics.

29 November 90 U.N. Security Council Resolution 678 authorizes the use of force to uphold resolutions unless Iraq withdraws by the 15 January 91 deadline.

15 January 91 The U.N. set deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait is reached.



17 January 91 The Operation Desert Storm air war begins (D-Day). Laser-guided HELLFIRE missiles, fired by U.S. Army 101st Aviation Brigade APACHE helicopters strike the first coalition blow against two Iraqi early-warning radar sites, destroying both within 4 minutes thereby opening a corridor for the first air strikes against targets inside Iraq. U.S. Marine Corps AH-1T COBRA helicopter gunships destroy an Iraqi command post with TOW missiles following Iraq's sporadic shelling of the Khafji area near the Saudi- Kuwaiti border.



18 January 91 Iraq fires the first Scud missiles at Israel & Saudi Arabia.

20 January 91 XVIII Airborne & VII Corps begin movement to forward assembly areas for the ground phase of the campaign.



29 January 91 Iraqi troops attack Khafji, Saudi Arabia.

30 January 91 Saudi-led coalition forces, which included U.S. Marine Corps units, storm the Iraqi-held Saudi town of Khafji, but are forced to retreat not only by Iraqi resistance but by "friendly fire" from the Qatari armored unit assigned to protect the Saudis from the rear.



16 February 91 Coalition forces begin day & night artillery raids along front lines.

23 February 91 The deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait before the beginning of the ground war is set for 12 Noon (8 p.m. in Baghdad).



24 February 91 Coalition forces begin the ground phase of the campaign (G-Day).



25 February 91 An Iraqi Scud missile destroys a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, killing 28 American soldiers.





26 February 91 Kuwait is liberated by American Troops.

3 April 91 U.N. Security Council Resolution 687 sets forth a permanent cease fire.

6 April 91 Iraq officially accepts U.N. cease fire terms & Security Council resolutions.

11 April 91 The cease fire takes effect.



28 February 91 President Bush orders the cessation of offensive operations.



14 March 1991 The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, returns to his homeland after living in exile for seven and a half months.

Love behind bars

Akram has been dating Cassandre for the last seven years. They where in love. Cassandre proposed to Akram, and Akram accepted. There was one little problem.

What would you have done?

Since my baby left me

Well, since my baby left me,
I found a new place to dwell.
It's down at the end of lonely street
at Heartbreak Hotel.

You make me so lonely baby,
I get so lonely,
I get so lonely I could die.



And although it's always crowded,
you still can find some room.
Where broken hearted lovers
do cry away their gloom.

Well, the Bell hop's tears keep flowin',
and the desk clerk's dressed in black.
Well they been so long on lonely street
They ain't ever gonna look back.

Hey now, if your baby leaves you,
and you got a tale to tell.
Just take a walk down lonely street
to Heartbreak Hotel.

Understanding Women - For Engineers - Lesson 2

Since my "Understanding Women" had tremendous response, here is another valuable lesson to all you engineers and men out there.

The lesson is: Never argue with a lady, you will lose the argument, no matter how good you are, and how you have your facts all laid out. Science, Math, Statistics, and years of research are against you. The following graph proves it, irrefutably:

Color Test

I took the color quiz below, I am not sure about the results, it is a lot of psychological mumbo jumbo to me. Also, I am color blind, so don't know how that fits in.

For example, in the color blind test here, I can only see the number 25 in the colored circles. No sympathy please, it is not bothering me, and I never had any fashion accidents, except maybe wearing olive green with brown ;-)

Don+Veto took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "His need to feel more causative and to have a wide..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Understanding Women - For Engineers

Engineers are practical, straightforward, analytical people. They understand situations by surveying, analyzing and measurements. They find simple effective solutions to complex problems.

One problem situation where male engineers are facing a challenge understanding, is women.

Therefore to help all male engineers and other males, here is a woman's data sheet.

Kurt Vonnegut Commencement Address at MIT in 1997

On July 31, 1997 an email message started circulating on the Internet featuring the text of a "commencement speech" purportedly given by Vonnegut at MIT. The speech was clever, it was weird and it had plenty of good advice but a forgery. Kurt Vonnegut said that, "It was very witty, but it wasn't my wittiness,". It was even made into a rap single and hit the billboard charts.

The original author was Mary Schmich from the Chicago Tribune.

The alleged Vonnegut speech follows:

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:

Wear sunscreen:

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blind side you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts.

Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life.

The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't know.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on.

Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, buy be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal,wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Good luck!

About Life

"So it goes. "

Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Gizoogle

Gizoogle translates your web site to ...... ,

forget the witty comments, just check gizoogle.com out here.

And here is Don Veto Gizoogled.

Don Vizzle - Reviews n Words of Wisdom

Sometizzles you wizzy ta share an opinion, a thought or jizzy any old thing wit tha rizzay of tha world. This is wizzy I W-to-tha-izzant ta do hizzy . Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay.

Your New Friend - Hello Kitty

Need a friend that you can talk to, discuss your problems and lend you a sympathetic ear?

Well, introducing Hello Kitty, she / he / it !?!? is able to understand and talk in Japanese, she has cameras for eyes, and speakers in her feet.

More from CNN here, and more pictures here.

Don't Stare at Me

You are a cute bird with your colorful feathers. You innocently go out and people are staring at you, not simple appreciative glances, but hard "I want you for dinner" stares. What should the poor little bird do ?



Salute them!

Black Beauty Meets the Godfather

If you saw The Godfather I, you would get it.

Priceless Quing Dynasty Vases

Quing Dynasty Vases are priceless, at a recent Sotheby Auction Chinese businesswoman Alice Cheng paid a record high price of US$5.32 million to buy a peach-patterned vase made in the Yongzheng period (1723-1735), thus setting a new auction record for porcelain from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The below exquisite pieces are from the same Qing Dynasty period.





The Fitzwilliam Museum in the university city of Cambridge had similar priceless vases sitting at the Windowsill for display.

A visitor tripped on his untied shoelaces and ended shattering those priceless vases. Now the museum is buying some super glue and is working on sticking the vases together.

Maybe the Museum should implement a you break it, you buy it policy. Three vases at a going price of $5 million each, works out to be $15 million, maybe the shoelace tripper can pay with his credit card.

More about this from Yahoo! News and from the BBC and USA Today.

Old School Photos

remember your old school photos? Everyone in your classroom is sent out to the school courtyard. A funny looking photographer is there. You are all told to to bunch together. The teacher tells everyone to smile, and click flash done, you have been captured. When the photos come out, you don't look like yourself. The boy next to you is picking his nose. Someone has a V finger behind his head. It is a photo you would rather forget.

Well, some enterprising people have managed to collect a big library of all these school photos and you can now find your old school photos online.

Check it out here, recognize yourself ?

The Perils of Nerdiness

You are the local computer whiz kid. There is nothing you don't know about computers, networks, software, hardware, middleware, algorithms, coding, root access, URLs, php, perl, csh, bash, yacc, awk, WiFi and everything else.

You where not born that way. You transformed by sitting hours in front of your comp, devouring computer books, eating with computer magazines, and dreaming about bits and bytes in your sleep.

So why does this happen to you ?

Bungling Burglar

Shoplifter, you'll never learn
When you commit the crime
Shoplifter, you're getting burned
And now you gotta do the time

It's a 1, 2, 3 on the felony
Well not everything is free
Now that you served the community
It's the life of a petty thief

It's not considered stealing
Unless you're getting caught
But you'll be caught stealing
Tryin' to take something you haven't got

Shoplifter - Green Day





A DOZY burglar has been foiled after getting stuck in a store's air vent.

Lonnie Shields was trapped in the hole for more than six hours after his bungled raid.

Owners of the shop and diner in Orlando, Florida, discovered the thief when they arrived for work. They heard screams for help and noticed a pair of legs hanging down from the overhead system.

Shields was freed - from the vent, that is - after firefighters poured liquid soap around him and pulled him back up.

Orlando fire chief Greg Hoggatt said: "When we got to the roof, we saw him looking up at us with his arms above his head.

"He got about halfway down and got stuck."

Reports said Shields was taken to hospital suffering from injuries to his groin area.

Police say he will face several charges.

More Here

4 things about me - Tag

Beyond Q8iya tagged me.

Tags are evil people, nip it at the bud and don't help it spread, but anyway, here goes:

Four Jobs I've Had:

1. Programmer
2. Unix Administrator
3. International Sales
4. Big Shot Manager in a Big Shot Company

Four Movies I can watch Over and Over:

1. Armageddon
2. Kill Bill 1
3. Kill Bill 2
4. Godfather 1,2,3

Four Places I have lived:

1. Algeria
2. Moscow - Russia
3. Paris - France
4. Kuwait - Kuwait

Four TV shows I LOVE:

1. Drew Carry
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
3. Farscape
4. Star Trek (all of them)

Four Places I've Vacationed:

(I have been nearly everywhere but these places are nice)

1. Los Angeles
2. New Jersey
3. Hawaii
4. Toronto

Four of My Favorite Dishes:

1. Pizza
2. Sushi
3. White Castle Hamburgers
4. Japanese Ramin Noodles

Four Sites I visit Daily:

1. Google News
2. Google
3. Safat
4. Bloglines (to read the 129 and growing feeds I am tracking)

No one is going to be tagged, tags are evil, except for MiYa FuSHi because I want to get her back for tagging me before.

This is what happens when you listen to your parents

This unfortunate Saudi Man listened to his Mother and Father and see where it got him.
Article Here.


"Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your home on the wedding day of your daughter. May their first child be a masculine child."

What Luca Brasi wanted to say to Don Corleone

7 of 7

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages."

-William Shakespeare, As You Like It

I got tagged by MiYa FuSHi to reveal my 7 of 7s, those being:

7 things to do before I die:

1. Live to be 107


2. Invent something extremely trivial yet immensely useful (Like those yellow post it pads)


3. Write a really boring highly technical book that only propeller heads understand.


4. Make the perfect cup of coffee


5. Open a coffee shop and call it Don Veto, serving the perfect cup of coffee


6. Start a meme, possibly about my Don Veto Coffee Shop


7. Be able to draw a painting like this:

7 things I cannot do:

1. Raise 1 eyebrow


2. Lie, I am dangerously honest


3. Be a politician


4. Forget my Friends


5. Forget an act of Kindness


6. Refuse a call for help


7. Be vengeful

7 things I say:

1. Shaku Maku


2. Shimsawee


3. yah yah yah (Kuwaiti not American)


4. la y7ooshik


5. shi'3ul 3adel


6. 3ajeeb


7. widi asadig bas gaweeeeyah

7 books I loved:

1. Wizard of Earthsea series - Ursula Le Guin


2. Dune Series - Frank Herbert


3. Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov


4. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein


5. Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonegut


6. Animal Farm - George Orwell


7. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness in Crowds - Charles Mackay

7 movies I loved:

1. Kill Bill 1


2. Kill Bill 2


3. Gladiator


4. Armageddon


5. Matchstick Men


6. Star Trek - First Contact


7. Day of the Jackal - The original 1973 movie, not the Bruce Willis/Richard Gere crap remake

7 things that attract me:

1. Honesty


2. "Joi de Vivre"


3. A true laugh


4. A true smile


5. Bright eyes


6. Nerdishness


7. Confidence

7 people I want to tag:

I will not let any one suffer, except for Sever, and as for Miyafushi, I will get you back someday soon.

Must Have Software - Musicbrainz

Do you spend hours on your iTunes renaming music files and classifying because the artist's name is misspelled, or the title is labelled "Unknown" or the song name has been shortened to an unrecognizable name?

Well, I have spent many happy but wasted hours doing just that.

I found a utility that will scan your MP3 files on your hard disk, compare them to an online database, and using different recognition techniques, will identify your music and update your ID3 tags. If there is any music it does not recognize, you can suggest something and it will update the database.

Introducing Musicbrainz.

What should you do to the Danish products

What should you do with all the Danish Dairy products that no one is going to buy?

Should you leave them sitting in cold storage?

NO! I have the answer.

Give it to the cats for free, or radically discounted prices.



Result: Some very happy Kittys.



What shall we use to fill the empty spaces
Where waves of hunger gnaw?
Shall we set out across this sea of faces
In search of more and more applause?
What Shall we do Now?
Shall we buy a new guitar?
Shall we drive a more powerful car?
Shall we work straight through the night?
Shall we get into fights?
Leave the lights on?
Drop bombs?
Do tours of the east?
Contract disease?
Bury bones?
Break up homes?
Send flowers by phone?
Take to drink?
Go to shrinks?
Give up meat?
Rarely sleep?
Keep people as pets?
Train dogs?
Race rats?
Fill the attic with cash?
Bury treasure?
Store up leisure?
But never relax at all
With our backs to the wall
Backs to the Wall

empty spaces - pink floyd

Kids grow up so fast

Little Boy Blue , come blow your horn ;

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.

Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?

He's under the haystack , having a smoke!
















This kid is for real! He is a 3 year old Chinese kid, sad but strangely cute.