Dr Badriya among the first to enter Kuwait with Al Farah team
Wrote books and articles on humanitarian issues
This is the fourth in a series of articles on Dr Badriya Abdullah Mohammed Hady Al Awadhi, a lady of eminence among the Kuwaiti cultural pioneers.
I— Editor
By Lidia Al Qattan
n the aftermath of liberation Dr Badriya Al Awadhi and her team got ready to make feasible the strategies planned beforehand. In organizing and coordinating every effort she was commuting from her office in Bahrain to Dhahran in Saudi Arabia holding meetings and conferences. Finally on the second weeks after the liberation she was entering Kuwait as part of Al Farah (Happiness) team, the United Nation’s commission for political investigation on disasters. The job was to assess and report the extent of damages and destruction left by the retreating Iraqi army in Kuwait.
Like everyone who entered the country in the aftermath of liberation, the team was appalled by the magnitude of the disaster and the problem to be tackled; for, whatever one expected to find, he or she could not imagine the full extent of the devastation done to the environment.
On entering Kuwait airspace by helicopter they were horrified by the ghastly, burning inferno in which hundreds of fiery tongs were leaping towards the sky amidst heavy smoke. At certain latitude the smoke was so dense that for few seconds there was total darkness. While it lasted it seemed an eternity. In emerging from the layer of smoke, another grisly spectacle made everyone gaspe in dismay; for as far as one could see there were hundreds of glistering oil lakes covering the land. The whole panorama – the land, the trees and the houses were under a blanket of smoke hanging between earth and sky through which the noon sun could not penetrate.
In reaching town one could sea piles of filth and destruction everywhere. Some of the buildings were set on fire during the Iraqi withdrawal from the country; others were destroyed during the first phase of the invasion. The water distillation plants and energy generator complexes, the oil refineries and the entire electricity network had been set with mines and blown up. Hospitals, schools, the university, all the stores and factories were depleted of their content and many destroyed. Among the buildings that were spared was that of the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME), which being still intact enabled Dr Badriya to remain in Kuwait for three more months, when her team left after three weeks of investigations. While in Kuwait she was commuting to Bahrain holding conferences and seminars on the latest result of her investigations.
Incidentally, while she was with her team, flying to the various locations, assessing the damage and the extent of the pollution affecting both land and sea, she went to zones heavily mined. In spite of the danger surrounding her, she was quite cheerful and undaunted, hence she had to be reminded to be on the alert by expert old timers, worrying that the least vibrations could trigger an explosion.
Indeed in those moments, simply being back home brought back her old temerity of spirit, her true self. She was afraid of nothing, her spirit was so buoyant that in spite of all the tragic scenes she was beholding, she was light hearted and happy, certain that every thing would have been amended and brought back to normal in a short time.
During the inspection, in coming upon the remnants of the Iraqi army at a location labeled “The Road of Death“she was moved to compassion and deep sadness in beholding the tragic scene, a true spectacle of human madness and greed.
Lidia Qattan
Although at the time of her arrival all human casualties were removed, everything else was in its place, thereby giving a clear image of the tragic drama that befell the Iraqi army during its hasty withdrawal from Kuwait and the wrath of firing that fell upon it.
The scene was yet more appalling during the first days of liberation when Motla’a, a bottleneck area on the road near the city of Jahra, became a death trap for the fleeing Iraqi army. People going there on the first day of the liberation witnessed such carnage that many turned away in horror.
As far as the eyes could see, the scene was a chaos of burned vehicles piled up one upon another in great confusion along the road and surrounding area.
Scattered bodies of young soldiers, some of them carbonized, were everywhere among burned vehicles and stolen goods. The saddest thing she came upon was a wedding gown lying besides the body of a young soldier. It most have been a gift to his bride, the woman he might have been thinking about in those terrible moments while the upheaval was going on all around him.
“What a tragedy! So many young lives wasted for the madness and greed of one man! So much suffering and for what?
“If only we remember that nothing can be taken for granted and all we have is the moment; for life can be truncated at any moment, we would treasure the moment we have and share it with our loved ones; we would be more humble, more compassionate towards others, more loving and forgiving.”
Love in the form of compassion is the key to human spiritual development; it is the cure to all fears. Fear that feeds on ignorance and greed is the source of superstitions and hate that keeps humanity from developing.
Children are born innocent but are soon spoiled by their surrounding, by the fears and superstitions of those around them.
Parental love and guidance could spare them of much evil, but many parents don’t know how to love their children, how to make them feel secure and how to enhance their selfesteem by guiding them through their uncertainty, and be there for them whenever they need comforting. Lack of security in a child triggers the development of inferiority complexes that tyrannize his life, and unless his negative energy is sublimated in creative endeavor, he not only will suffer the consequence later in life, he also will make others miserable.
The greatest tragedy is when such individuals become Head of State with a craving for power, and then whole nations will suffer!
Due to our early surrounding most of us emerge with some degree of inferiority complex that inclines us to amend. Unfortunately whatever we do, whatever we achieve we can’t be satisfied unless we learn to accept our limitations and concentrate our energy in doing what gives us more satisfaction. In becoming more happy and contented we tend to be more compassionate towards others and more considerate of all living things and of our environment; at the same time we would be less hunted by fears, which are the mainspring of trouble.
We admire strong minded individual, because they inspire us with all that is best in a human being. On the other hand we despise dictators, the slaves of their inferiority complex, for they are the epitome of all that is bad and evil in a human being.
Of this category there are many, but the worse type are those who rule a country. It is under their regime that the bloodiest wars are shaking the world causing the greatest human suffering. Saddam Hussein, who emulated his hero, Hitler, was an example of this kind.
The Road of Death, the scene which Dr Badriya Al Awadhi and her team were beholding, was only one part of the scenario of destruction they came across. On land and sea, around and on the islands, wherever they went there were anti-tankers and anti-personnel mines in such a profusion that a vast job had to be done to get rid of them. In destroying them, more damage of far reaching consequence was to affect the fragile environment both on sea and land.
Another awesome problem was tackling the burning inferno at the oilfield and extinguishing the fire, which was affecting not only the entire region but also the entire globe. In Kuwait the hazard to health by toxic fumes soon became obvious in the number of still birth and of children born with respiratory debilitation. Cancer victims has been since on the increase, other genetic damages resulting in new illnesses have also been detected.
After her team left Kuwait, Dr Badriya remained in the country to continue assessing of damages on the environment, noting down data and writing reports, while commuting to Bahrain for seminars and lecturing on the result of her investigations. Lectures Having completed her work she then became engaged in a tour of lectures by invitation from Universities and International Organizations in the United States, in Canada and in Europe.
At the same time she has been writing scores of articles and essays centered on Iraq’s International Responsibility for Environmental Damages, writing on the Legal, Moral and Humanitarian aspects of environmental pollution of Iraqi Aggression of Kuwait ; on the role of ROPME in oil spills on the water of the Gulf and rehabilitation of the environment of the region; on the Flagrant Violation of International Humanitarian Law in Kuwait, under Iraqi Occupation; on the Legal Aspects of Environmental Destruction in Kuwait; on the Demarcation of the Kuwait/Iraqi Border and its Impact on the Gulf Security.
Other assays verge on the Development of Regional Legislation in ROPME Sea Area; on the role of ROPME in Development of Marine Pollution Response; on the Hindrances to Effective Regional Preparedness and Response; on the Role of MEMAC in Pollution Emergencies in the Sea Area; on the Development of Regional Legislation for the Protection of the Marine Environment in ROPME Sea Area.
Besides dealing with marine environment, Dr Badriya Al Awadhi wrote essays related to humanitarian issues such as on the Foundation Principles of Doctor/Patient Relation in Kuwaiti Law; on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Protection of Kuwaiti Women; on the National and International Approaches to Violence against Women Migrant Workers; on the Women Rights in International Law; on the Labor Law in Private Sector.
She also wrote many books, the first on “The Iraqi Aggression and Trampling of the Principles of Humanity and the Law” appeared in 1992.
Another book appeared in 1996 dealing with “Environmental Laws in the Gulf Co-operation Council Countries (GCC)”. In the following year (1997), Dr Badriya published “Women Legal Guideline on Family Law”. Many other books and essays have been published ever since.
To be continued