Coastal Areas Kuwait

The delicate task of CLEARING AN ESTIMATED 40,000 IRAQI MINES from Kuwait's beaches will take UP TO FOUR MONTHS, French army experts said this week. "What's for sure is that Kuwaitis won't be going to the beach this summer," said the commander of a mine-clearing unit. In one day, he said, his unit found 135 mines along 100 yards of beach. Iraqi troops laid mines along the coast in preparation for a massive allied amphibious assault that never came.

Twenty minutes is the limit when hunting land mines, according to French army engineer Jacques Daman. After 20 minutes, knees begin to ache, sweat stings the eyes and even the steadiest of hands can begin to shake uncontrollably. One wrong move and. . . . Twenty minutes on, 40 minutes off, eight hours a day, probing the sands of liberated Kuwait with little more than a small shovel and one's own nerves. "The objective," said Daman, 32, "is to give the Kuwaiti people their liberty.

Twenty minutes is the limit when hunting land mines, according to French army engineer Jacques Daman. After 20 minutes, knees begin to ache, sweat stings the eyes and even the steadiest of hands can begin to shake uncontrollably. One wrong move and. . . . Twenty minutes on, 40 minutes off, eight hours a day, probing the sands of liberated Kuwait with little more than a small shovel and one's own nerves. "The objective," said Daman, 32, "is to give the Kuwaiti people their liberty.

Swept clear of mines but still plainly ravaged by war, this major port reopened to international commerce early Tuesday, Kuwait's first open link to the sea since being overrun by Iraq seven months ago. Within hours, at least two merchant ships, one American and the other Soviet, began unloading their cargoes of potable water, 11 million gallons in all, for Kuwaitis whose water supply system was all but destroyed during the war. "So many things need to be done . . .

Some moonless night in mid-February, as the waters of the Persian Gulf lap high along the shoreline, the largest U.S. amphibious landing operation since the Korean War may begin on a remote stretch of beach in Kuwait. And the future of the U.S. Marine Corps could hang in the balance. In what will appear to be random attacks, warships will shell the beach and allied warplanes will drop bombs on Iraqi encampments along 100 miles of coastline.

Swept clear of mines but still plainly ravaged by war, this major port reopened to international commerce early Tuesday, Kuwait's first open link to the sea since being overrun by Iraq seven months ago. Within hours, at least two merchant ships, one American and the other Soviet, began unloading their cargoes of potable water, 11 million gallons in all, for Kuwaitis whose water supply system was all but destroyed during the war. "So many things need to be done . . .

The delicate task of CLEARING AN ESTIMATED 40,000 IRAQI MINES from Kuwait's beaches will take UP TO FOUR MONTHS, French army experts said this week. "What's for sure is that Kuwaitis won't be going to the beach this summer," said the commander of a mine-clearing unit. In one day, he said, his unit found 135 mines along 100 yards of beach. Iraqi troops laid mines along the coast in preparation for a massive allied amphibious assault that never came.

Some moonless night in mid-February, as the waters of the Persian Gulf lap high along the shoreline, the largest U.S. amphibious landing operation since the Korean War may begin on a remote stretch of beach in Kuwait. And the future of the U.S. Marine Corps could hang in the balance. In what will appear to be random attacks, warships will shell the beach and allied warplanes will drop bombs on Iraqi encampments along 100 miles of coastline.