Re: [Leica] Photos in Saudi Arabia & Desert Storm stories

[Patrick Markham <markham30@home.com>]

on 8/21/01 2:08 AM, Mxsmanic at mxsmanic@hotmail.com wrote:

> Patrick writes:
> 
>> The central part of Saudi is pure desert.
>> Tall sand dunes. Some oasis with
>> palm trees. Very photogenic.
> 
> Is sand the problem for gear that it is rumored to be in such regions?  What
> about heat?  And, more specifically, was either a problem for Leica gear in
> particular (if you were using Leica gear at the time)?
> 
> 
The only time of the year that sand is a problem is during schmal season,
which is like the Santa Ana winds that So. California experiences. Driving
winds kick up sand over thousands of miles of desert and it blows so hard it
will practically sand blast the paint off your car. Definitely can't see
across the street during the day or night. I sealed my camera up tight in a
zip lock bag inside another zip lock bag until the winds died down. Should
be no problem now as this is usually a spring time phenomenon as I remember.
The heat was no problem for the M3 or Leica lenses - they handled it well. I
just wouldn't leave them in a closed car.

Have a little known schmal story for you. When Sadam Hussein took over
Kuwait many believe he fully intended to keep the tanks rolling and take
over the oil fields of northern Saudi Arabia as they are a very short
distance from the Kuwaiti border and at the time they were practically
unprotected. This would have given him control of a huge portion of the
middle east's oil reserves. Before he could move further south a huge schmal
kicked up in the region and he was forced to stop his drive south. During
this reprieve, George Bush quickly flew US armed forces into airfields south
of the schmal and positioned them in Northern Saudi. When the schmal cleared
(Surprise!) Sadam was now face to face with US armed forces. He halted and
dug in. Thus began the Desert Storm operation.

From the Saudi viewpoint the schmal was Allah's intervention.

My father was employed by the Saud Royal Commission as the operations
manager of the world's largest water desalinization plant in eastern Saudi
at the time (which was a HUGE target for Sadam, as knocking it out would
have seriously compromised the allies' efforts in Desert Storm). He has lots
of other "miracle" stories which transpired there during the Gulf War. Scud
missiles missed every time. And remember Sadam's blowing up off shore oil
wells during the war? Those were direct attempts to gum up the desal filters
with oil. Miraculously no oil EVER made it into the water intakes.

It's interesting to find out about the "behind the scenes" stories of famous
military campaigns. I'm sure there are tons more Desert Storm stories we've
never heard about. They'll surely come out in time as declassified materials
are released. Thought these might be of interest to some on the list.

Patrick