Against the Fires of Hell: The Environmental Disaster of the Gulf War

Through interviews with scientists, firefighters and Kuwaiti citizens, plus firsthand observations, freelance science reporter Hawley assesses the environmental impact of the Gulf war. It is a grim story: the largest waterborne oil spill in history occurred; smoke and petroleum fog from oil-well fires covered an area more than twice the size of Alaska; military activities of both sides produced wide-scale disruption of desert pavement leading to more frequent and severe dust storms; land mines and unexploded ordnance pose a continuing threat to the population. Hawley equates conditions in the Gulf area to the Bhopal and Chernobyl disasters. He charges that the Kuwaiti government downplayed possible health risks, and that efforts to protect wildlife areas were secondary to sheltering industrial facilities. Hawley describes the firefighting activities; by November 1991, the firefighters had the largest nonmilitary vehicle and equipment fleet in the world. He follows the cleanup efforts on the oil spill and discusses the smoke plumes that covered Kuwait. In a final chapter Hawley examines the health crisis in Iraq after the war. He shows in deadly detail the interconnected problems of power loss, waterborne infectious diseases, shortages of food and medicine. A well-documented and powerful statement on the ecological consequences of war. Author tour. (Sept.)