Refugees say Iraqi soldiers plunder Kuwait

GENEVA Occupying Iraqi forces are carving a trail of plunder,rape and violence in Kuwait, refugees from the invaded country saidThursday.

A businessman in his 40s said the Iraqi forces who stormed intohis homeland a week ago also had sought out and spirited away manyinfluential Kuwaitis.

"We have a cousin who told us they stopped him in the street andtook his watch, money, pens, sunglasses - anything of value - andthen slapped him and kicked him," the businessman said. "They kepthim in custody for a long time in the hot sun, and he asked forwater. They said, `Go to the sea and drink it.' "

The businessman, who feared reprisals if he identified himself,said three Iraqi soldiers entered a house of some of his relativesand demanded food.

"After they ate, they said: `Give us your maids.' When ourrelatives asked why, they said: `We'll blow your heads off.' " TheFilipino maids were raped, he said.

The businessman was among six Kuwaitis who raced in a car pastIraqi soldiers down a desert road Tuesday to reach Saudi Arabia. Therefugees, who included his son, brother and other family members,later went to Bahrain and took a plane to Geneva, he said.

The closing of Iraq's borders to all but diplomatic personnel inBaghdad has frustrated attempts of many foreigners to get out. TheState Department reported Thursday that 10 U.S. citizens described asdependents and non-essential embassy personnel were turned away in agroup after an eight-hour drive from Baghdad, despite having exitpermits.

In all, department deputy Richard Boucher said, Iraq continuesto deny permission for more than 3,500 Americans to leave despitepressure from the United States.

Refugees who made it to Geneva said Iraqi invaders had plunderedgold shops, exchange offices, vehicle show rooms and radio andtelevision stores.

Iraqi soldiers entered Kuwaiti homes looking for weapons andpeople, and leaving with whatever valuables they found, the refugeessaid.

"They had lists of names of people they wanted to take," thebusinessman recalled. "They took a lot of people, important people."

Many Kuwaitis had been spirited away to Iraq and convoys ofIraqi civilians brought in to replace them, he said.

"I counted 90 to 95 buses (arriving) in one hour as we wereleaving," the businessman said. Each had been jammed with wholeIraqi families and their belongings.

Iraqi families began arriving Monday in Kuwait and gathered atcommandeered police stations awaiting instructions on where to go.

Food, in short supply, was being handed out in small parcels atsupermarkets and the Kuwaitis were rationing themselves.

As for the Americans in Baghdad, one word was spokenreluctantly, in a hush, as if it were a taboo: hostage.

Once it became clear that the United States and Iraq were on acollision course, "hostage" came automatically to the lips of thestranded.

John Norman, a business consultant from North Carolina who madeit out of Iraq, said, "We got the feeling we were cards in a game, tobe rounded up."