Journeys with George: Kuwait Rock City
Our final day in Israel started very early and ended in Kuwait City, Kuwait, very late. I headed to the airport with Terry Hunt (Associated Press), Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) and Massimo Calabresi (Time Magazine) in the morning for the Departure Ceremony at Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. This time, it was broad daylight so I was able to see the hills and mountains of Israel. The road was winding as we headed back down to the plains. I was also able to clearly see the cars that remained from the 1948 war - they have since been painted over. Little housing clusters seemed to pop up in random locations along the drive, with all the houses at different elevations due to the terrain. We arrived and headed to Terminal 1, which was deserted save security personnel. We then headed outside and waited for a few hours for the event all the while keeping on eye on top Israeli comic Eli Yatzpan. I guess he’s a big deal over there. He reminded me of a mix of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in the sense that he was walking around acting like a reporter, complete with a microphone that had logos for CNN, Fox News and two Israeli channels, that he was constantly flipping around. He asked someone with us what they thought of Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire victory - it amazes me that so far away from the US and it was on people’s minds!
The President took part in the ceremony that included what seemed to be members of an ROTC type group (they were young!) and then made a statement about his return to Israel for the 60th Anniversary Celebration in May, while flanked by President Peres and Prime Minister Olmert. Then the Boss boarded Air Force One (with Terry, Steve and Massimo in tow) and headed to Kuwait (note Kuwait…not Iraq like all the press had convinced themselves). We headed to the press charter and I took a nap until the rest of the press boarded and we also headed to Kuwait.
‘Into the Wild’ was the feature presentation on the flight, although I was trying to sleep. While we were taxiing, there was a clip of former President Bush speaking in the Oval Office being shown in the movie. A few of us looked at each other, struck by the same thing - we had just landed in Kuwait, a country liberated from Saddam Hussein’s forces in 1991 by former President Bush.
I joined the pool that was swapping “into the bubble” for the 10 minute ride to Bayan Palace - the official guest quarters of the Kuwaiti Governement. Only problem…it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there! Our driver was lost, and all sorts of other things happened. I tried my darndest to talk to some Kuwaiti military at various checkpoints, but the language barrier was not helping the cause. We finally made it to the Palace.
The next morning I made it to the Crowne Plaza Hotel - site of the Press Filing Center and a hotel that was overtaken by the Iraqi Army in the early 90s and later burned. On the ride over, the driver told me that Kuwait City is only about 10 years behind Dubai, and building up fast. He pointed out a new mall that sprung up as well as some hotels - including an Ikea. Every few minutes or so we would pass a cluster of six huge water towers painted with blue and white stripes along the road. Next we headed back to the airport and off to Manama, Bahrain for Journeys with George: I’ll Take Islands in the Middle East for $1,000, Alex.
