Pipeline blown up in north Iraq - official (June 8)

[bemildred]

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Saboteurs blew up a main oil pipeline in northern Iraq early on Wednesday, an official at the Northern Oil company said.

The incident occurred 20 km (12 miles) north of Baiji on a pipeline used to export oil to Turkey from Iraq's vast northern oil fields around Kirkuk. The company official said there had been no exports at the time because of repeated attacks.

"This isn't the first time. They've targeted oil for a long time even when there is no exporting," he said on condition of anonymity.

Iraq says 95 percent of its national income comes from crude oil exports and says it aims to lessen its dependency on them.

Reuters

[acmavm]

1. How are they going to lessen their dependency on oil exports?

Can somebody tell me what the hell else they've got????????

I understand that I'm not the most intelligent person on the planet. Mensa isn't beating down my door. But believe me when I say that I've done a lot of reading on the Middle East and I've never really come across any indication of another income generating asset. I mean these people, living surrounded by deserts, had to import SAND no less for construction purposes because they didn't have the right 'type' of sand. (That story still has me confused.) What else do they have? Because it sure as shit isn't generating work for the Iraqi people.

[cascadiance]

2. Though the means may be difficult, I can understand the goal...

They are a lot more vulnerable as long as they are so dependent on oil exports.

You've got a lot of Kurdish PKK forces in that area that want to control the oil more directly themselves and not have it moving unimpeded through Turkey, and these folks are probably those responsible for the bombings.

The following article talks about how Turkey mentions these problems amongst others that Turkey has had in dealing with the Bushies and the EU...

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2005/June/theworld_June178.xml§ion=theworld&col=

A real choice error in the article that a proofreader missed is as follows:

"But Washington appears less inclined to act because memories of Iraq’s refusal to allow US troops to use Turkish territory in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq are still fresh."...

I think that statement is even more worthy of "D'oh!" than how the sentence should have been written. :)

[acmavm]

4. I understand the goal myself. I mean, they need some form of income

generation that isn't being blown up on a regular basis. What I want to know is what that income generating industry or 'thing' will be.

[Up2Late]

6. Tourism! Vice-President Dick said on Larry King Sunday...

...that the Insurgency is in it's "last throws," so according to Dick, The Tourist Industry should be BOOMing soon.:nuke: :hide:

Damn, their goes another Car Bomb, guess it might take a bit longer.:sarcasm:

[acmavm]

7. Oh, I see. But I have to say that I don't think that I'll be making a

reservation for the Baghdad Hilton at anytime in the near future.

[Stockholm]

11. Can´t they just sell stuff on Ebay like everyone else n/t

[geckosfeet]

16. He is such a funny guy. Maybe he should take his family there for

a 2 week vacation. They could visit the troops, sit in the sun, visit Iran, check out a few of the museums and historic sights.

Yeah,,,, its going to be real hot tourist spot.

[dArKeR]

9. Iran used to grow pistachios but America made it illegal

to import them and their industry died. I wonder if Iraq was the same?

[acmavm]

10. I wouldn't know, but somehow I doubt that an entire country could

support itself with nut farms.

Wait a minute. Maybe they could. Isn't the current line of propaganda something like 25% of the American public are mentally ill? Well maybe they could turn Iraq into one big Asylum. Ship all our crazies to Bellevue-on-the-Euphrates.

[cascadiance]

12. Probably...

Pistachios were a big crop in Turkey too when I lived there! Used to love the stuff and grabbed them big boxes at a time. That's where I got introduced to the non-red dyed pistachios (U.S. only had those at that point before we moved there).

[BrotherBuzz]

13. They used to have a thriving date industry...

but I understand our army cut down the palm trees because those pesky date picking terrorists used to hide out in the groves.

[acmavm]

17. Now we have dates and pistacios. It might work if we manage to

kill enough Iraqis (or allow enough to be killed). Bring the native population down far enough and they'll only need a couple of Quik Shops and a Wal Mart.

[pokercat999]

14. Is there a market for depleted uranium? sarcasm off OEM

[olddad56]

3. what a shocker. You never expect that to happen.

[Benhurst]

5. Gosh, maybe they don't want us to steal their oil. Ingrates! NT

[Supersedeas]

8. both political and economic security - democracy at gunpoint is hard werk

[Jacobin]

15. That would be attack number 238. Here is the whole list:

http://www.iags.org/iraqpipelinewatch.htm


Here is just January and February:


2005
186. January 1 - attack on a pipeline from Kirkuk to Bayji.
187. January 1 - attack on a pipeline linking the southern cities of Karbala and Hillah, 46 miles south of Baghdad near the Musabayb power station.
188. January 7 - attack on gas pipeline 9 miles north of Tikrit.
189. January 8 - attack on an oil pipeline running from northern fields to Bayji in the Safra area, 43 miles southwest of Kirkuk. Two guard posts for an oil protection force were also blown up around the area and one guard was wounded.
190. January 8 - attack on a gas pipeline in the Fatha area near Bayji.
191. January 11 - 2:00am rocket attack on a gas pipeline that runs to Bayji near the Fatha production station.
192. January 11 - 6:30am attack on an oil pipeline that runs to Bayji in the Zegheitoun area, 35 miles southwest of Kirkuk. The pipeline had just been brought online on January 9th.
193. January 13 - 10:30pm attack on oil pipeline near Fatha.
194. January 14 - improvised explosive device detonated after midnight damaging an oil pipeline near Bayji and sparking a large fire.
195. January 14 - attack on a pipeline linking Kirkuk and the Daura refinery, near Samarra.
196. January 14 - rocket attack on pipeline complex near Fatha sparked large blaze.
197. January 17 - a bomb blew off a section of a pipeline in Fatha.
198. January 21 - 07:00am attack on pipeline in the al-Tharthar region 12 miles south of Samarra interrupted the flow of oil to the Bayji refinery.
199. February 2 - attack on oil pipeline connecting Bayji refinery to Daura refinery. The attack took place near Samarra.
200. Fabruary 5 - attack on a cluster of eight pipelines west of Samarra connecting the Bayji and Daura refineries.
201. February 6 - attack on pipeline carrying crude oil from Kirkuk to Bayji.
202. February 9 - attack on a gas pipeline before dawn in Fatha, about 15 miles north of Bayji.
203. February 9 - rocket attack on a pipeline linking Kirkuk to Bayji.
204. February 13 - 10:00pm attack on oil pipeline at the al-Dibbis oil field 31 miles north of Kirkuk.
205. February 14 - another attack on oil pipeline at al-Dibbis.
206. February 16 - attack on pipeline carrying crude from Kirkuk to Bayji near Fatha.
207. February 16 - attack on pipeline carrying crude from Kirkuk to Daura refinery.
208. February 16 - another attack on pipeline near Fatha.
209. February 16 - attack on pipeline in the Bajwan area, northwest of Kirkuk.
210. February 16 - gunmen killed Colonel Ibrahim Ahmed in charge of pipeline security. The killing took place at Ajeel west of Kirkuk.
211. February 25 - late night attack on a pipeline connecting the Dibbis oil fields with Kirkuk

[0007]

18. Wow! It is clear that cheney knows what he's talking about

Anyone with a brain can see that the insurgency has just about petered out, 'eh?

[realcountrymusic]

19. don't stereotype so much!

Iraq, in earlier days, had a very successfully mixed economy, far less oil dependent than the Saudis or the Kuwaitis. It has a relatively well educated urban population, and had (alas) a fairly strong communications and industrial and transportation infrastructure.

Agriculture was and could remain an important part of the economy, though water is all screwed up around the region and the Euphrates can't irrigate as much land as it used to. But they know how to make things, do science, and provide many marketable services to the global economy and the region. One great tragedy of the Saddam regime AND our regime is the destruction of a once solidly upwardly mobile society. Just you watch, though, independent Kurdistan will be a player in the global economy.

RCM