I nside the G ulf crisis: destruction and looting in Kuwait

Abstract

At 2.00 a.m. on 2 August 1990, Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait, suddenly and without any previous notice. This political earthquake happened during my annual vacation in my home town of Alexandria, in Egypt. Like many other people, including both Kuwaitis and foreigners working in Kuwait, I was completely shocked. I tried hard to accept this new situation and survive the catastrophe, but I could not stop thinking of my office, my databases which took fifteen years of my life to build, my home, my cars, my club and my friends who were there during the invasion. I attended the IFLA Conference in Stockholm later that month to try to forget this harmful event which was about to destroy fifteen years of my life.