Just after the Kuwait had been liberated we moved up to the border of Kuwait near the town of Kafjii, a battle had occurred there and the debris of combat was everywhere. The smoke from the oil fires was the thickest we had seen yet, and as we approached the border I had an eerie feeling of dejavu. We stopped to get our bearings and as I looked out upon the desert, a dark tower faded in and out of the smoke. I was immediately reminded of the scene just before the battle of Pelennor Fields in the Lord of the Rings.
Did I mention it was eerie?
Well as we were waiting for our leaders to figure out where we were, a group of Muslim militia came up and attempted to communicate with us. I think they were just curious about us and wanted to see some Americans for themselves.
So we attempted to talk and of course nothing could be communicated as neither of our groups had a translator. However, we did manage to get two things out of them. They were Mujahideen from Afghanistan, and they hated Russians.
Now it is easy to assume that they hated Russians, but they let us know it in no uncertain terms. Their leader said the word "Russians" as he made a slicing motion with his finger across his neck. We laughed and smiled at this to which they knew we also did not like the Russians(Soviets at the time), and I simply said to them "Insha Allah" which I believe means "God willing" and they smiled even bigger and waved as we parted ways.
copyright 2009 William T. Richards
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