Kuwait Invaded the Detachment was in Kuwait. The embassy itself did take fire from small arms into the buildings on the compound including the Chancery and the Marine House. Tank and artillery rounds also were fired over the embassy compound; two tank rounds hit a building adjacent to the compound. The Marines were still in defensive positions during the firing of these rounds, except on occasions during the second through sixth days [when they had] to locate civilians that were off the compound taking refuge and escort them to safe buildings on the compound. SSgt J. B. Smith, Sgt Paul G. Rodriguez, and Cpl Mark E. Royer were involved in these actions.46 On 23 August 1990, the U.S. ambassador to Kuwait ordered the Marines to escort a convoy of all nonessential embassy personnel and other civilians from Kuwait City to Baghdad. The Iraqis would not permit the embassy personnel to drive south into Saudi Arabia. The 30-vehicle convoy departed Kuwait City with the Marines spread among the convoy in an attempt to keep all the vehicles together.47 Travel was slow, with a great deal of traffic, and a serious accident occurred just outside Kuwait City: In one vehicle an elderly woman was thrown under the front seat; her hip was broken and she received lacerations on the face and leg. The other two elderly occupants of the vehicle received facial bruises and lacerations. [Sergeant David K.] Hudson, upon seeing this, proceeded to the accident site and performed first aid on the elderly woman with the broken hip. He proceeded to help her by talking to her and administering to her medical needs. The tail vehicle was used to transport her back to a hospital in Kuwait, and Sgt Hudson accompanied her back to the hospital. She was admitted and Sgt Hudson then proceeded to return to the convoy at the Kuwait/Iraq border. The decision and initiative of Sgt Hudson to accompany the woman back to the hospital took great courage and sacrifice because of the possibility of not being able to return to the convoy or quite possibly loss of life.48 In the early morning hours of 24 August, the convoy reached Baghdad and discovered that they would not be able to depart Iraq from Baghdad as intended. The Marines from Kuwait assumed Marine Security Guard duties at the Baghdad embassy
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but “were not permitted to use mace, handcuffs, [or] ammunition . . . all of which were to be secured in a safe.” The Marines were handicapped by this policy until the arrival of a State Department inspector, James J. “Jim” Blystone, in Baghdad. Blystone recommended the Marines take up their proper security duties, and on 1 October they assumed these duties, conducting security sweeps in addition to standing post.49 Life in Baghdad settled into a routine for the Marines, despite the uncertainty and tension. Iraqi soldiers were stationed near the embassy, and Iraqi secret police followed the Marines whenever they left the embassy, but no incidents occurred. The Marines performed their assigned duties, conducted physical training and security drills, and watched the unfolding Kuwait crisis from Baghdad throughout the fall of 1990. Finally, in early December, Saddam Hussein decided that no further benefit could be gained from holding the foreign hostages he had taken. On 9 December, the Marines were relieved of their duties at the Baghdad embassy and returned to the United States via Germany.50
The World’s Response The international response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait was overwhelmingly negative. On the day of the invasion, the United Nations (UN) Security Council passed Resolution 660, which condemned the invasion and called for Iraq to immediately withdraw all of its forces from Kuwait. Providing convincing evidence that the Cold War was well and truly over, the United States and the Soviet Union issued a joint statement condemning the invasion.51 The United States took the lead early, alarmed at the prospect of Iraq controlling such a large percentage of Middle Eastern oil reserves, as well as the blatant violation of international norms in place since the close of World War II. Both Kuwaiti and Iraqi overseas assets were frozen, and extensive diplomacy to isolate Iraq from potential allies was begun. Great Britain and France supported the United States in diplomatic efforts to reverse the conquest; British Prime Minister Margaret H. Thatcher met with President George H. W. Bush urging that Iraq’s action be reversed, by military means if necessary, and that no compromise be accepted.52 The Arab world was shattered by the Iraqi invasion; no Arab state had invaded another in modern history. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states were di-
