Saboteurs cut key Iraqi oil pipeline to Turkey as anti-US attacks continue

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030816/ts_afp/iraq_us&cid=1503&ncid=1607

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Saboteurs have cut Iraq's oil pipeline to Turkey, just two days after the key export route was finally reopened following the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein. snip

Iraq's top oil official told reporters that the disruption to the pipeline, which would take several days to repair, meant a loss of more than six million dollars a day in revenues badly needed for the reconstruction of the war-shattered country.

Thamer Ghadhban said the explosion early Friday had started a fire that was still burning Saturday but had been brought under control.

The disruption came just two days after crude oil exports resumed through the pipeline, which links Iraq's northern oil fields around Kirkuk to the Mediterranean terminal and was shut down before the March 20 start of the US-led war to oust Saddam.

more

[Spazito]

1. This will be a common occurance, I have little doubt..

the Iraqis are not unaware that oil is the reason their country is occupied and oil is what the US will NOT get.

[0007]

2. Thanks Don

Your work is much appreiciated.

Not like some other schmuck i know, LOL!! (not aiming at you) hint: the initial is "K"

[bfusco]

3. No way of stopping this

I don't know if there is any way to stop this. The pipeline covers a vast area and the Iraqis know the terrain and how to hit it too well. So much for all the oil flowing in order to reconstruct Iraq.

[Karenina]

8. But the entire premise is ludicrous.

There is NO WAY to protect an oil pipeline. They are above ground and look like spider legs sucking the life out of Mother Earth. Anyone got that graphic from Bartcop of the spiders enveloping the earth? I just spent a half hour looking for an article I KNOW I saved (who know where) about the drunk guy in Alaska who blew a hole in the pipeline with his rifle. He had no political or religious motivation, he was just a good ol' DRUNK Alaskan boy, ya know. What a joke.

[htuttle]

15. Here's some links to that story

One Guy, One Rifle, and a Pipeline
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1021-06.htm

On Oct. 4, according to police, Daniel Carson Lewis of Livengood, Alaska, shot a single hole into the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Because it was near the base of a long, gentle rise, strong pressure spewed 285,600 gallons of petroleum 75 feet into the air, saturating the tundra. The pipeline was shut for nearly three days as workers struggled to fix the leak.

(more)

Here's a picture of what happens when you shoot a pipeline with a .338 rifle:
http://www.monitor.net/monitor/0109a/alaskapipelinespill.html



I still say that there won't be an uninterrupted week of oil exports until US troops leave Iraq.

[Karenina]

20. Thank you, htuttle!

Is this a joke or what?

[htuttle]

22. I dub it "Operation Sisyphus"

...as it rolls right back down to the bottom of the damned hill again.

[lindashaw]

4. You remember those 3000 Saudi men who went missing awhile back?

Well, in my opinion, it's so simple it's perfect. The aims of this administration, actually going back to the first Gulf War, has been to get control of the Iraq oilfields. By doing that, the US could pump the crude, pay for the war and break the back of OPEC. Cheap oil as far as the eye can see...hmmm.

Except that the US screwed up because, like always, it didn't take into consideration who it was dealing with. We can't get the oil to market they keep blowing up the line. OPEC is now stronger than it ever was, and we're getting gouged at the gas pump. Could it be that those 3000 Saudis (Saudi Arabia now says "What men?") who certainly have the time and the financial backing, are smarter than all our experts put together.

If Osama has taught us anything, it's that the Saudis know how. And they have infinite patience. We never learn.

[Rose Siding]

7. The Saudis

who met with Poppy last week, incidentally, usually picked up slack in global production to keep prices stable. Now they aren't. Big surprise.

Oddly, their economy is slated to grow by 7% this year. Now if that don't take all......

[liberalmuse]

5. That oil wasn't for the Iraqi people anyway...

Bush is a liar, but we all know this. Has anyone read Riverbend's blog lately? Some of it was posted here yesterday. The Bush administration is screwing Iraq out of contracts to rebuild. Iraq companies are bidding a minute fraction of what the American companies are, and losing. In the meantime, a company that starts with an 'H' (in the blog) is getting filthy rich by using our tax dollars to do overbid on projects. I'm so angry that words fall short.

[asjr]

6. oil

You're right. That oil was for the corporate buddies of GW. This has been planned for so long right under our noses. He has sold out our country to the highest corporate bidder. That is treason in my view. Why others can't see it is beyond me. Polls still say he "is doing a good job." He sure is, a really good job of sending us all down the river. It is going to take years and years before this country ever recovers. And it will get worse before election 2004. The voting machines will be rigged, count on it, because the Republicans seem not to be bothered about his losing. I keep hoping I will wake up from this nightmare but I won't count on it.

[Nlighten1]

9. The audacity of these neo-cons is amazing

They really thought that they could just walk in and take some country's oil and that the people would just welcome it.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. Not THAT amazing....

Hell, they took over this government and have a multitude of "morans" singing thier praise from trailer parks across our great land.

No, I'm not pissed. I'm really happy to have survived long enough to see this cluster-fuck and worry about our children's future.

Sigh.

[NNN0LHI]

12. Nail to the head Billy

Bush and his minions thought the Iraqi people were as stupid as most Americans. They were wrong.

Don

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

16. Damn, Don. The man (Bush) makes Dan Quayle look like Einstein...

What does this say about all the blind support this country gives him.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Bravo! Another blow for freedom!

Each dollar that is not earned by Iraq's oil exports, is a dollar that has to come out of American pockets. Each dollar that comes out of American pockets is another nail in the neocon dreams of an American Empire.

The point is to make the occupation so painful and costly that the Americans will have little choice but to leave Iraq in Iraqi hands and forget the profits they expected to get for Halliburton and others.

The war goes on, and will go on until the occupation ends!

[LeftCoast]

13. This is not LBN

Dated: Sat Aug 16, 6:16 PM ET

[NNN0LHI]

17. I believe that is a typo on Yahoo's part? If not here is the new story

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030830/wl_nm/energy_iraq_pipeline_dc&cid=574&ncid=1473

Fire Hits Oil Pipeline in Northern Iraq

Sat Aug 30, 9:11 AM ET Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - An oil pipeline was on fire in northern Iraq (news - web sites) on Saturday and it would take two days to extinguish the flames, a U.S. military spokesman said.

The spokesman said it was not clear whether the pipeline was the export route that leads to Turkey.

The segment of the pipeline that has been hit by fire, near the town of Hawija, transports crude from Kirkuk to Baija, home of Iraq's biggest refinery.

more

[IndianaGreen]

18. The story is now breaking on MSNBC-TV

They showed pictures of the pipeline burning. Sabotage is suspected!

[NNN0LHI]

19. I have seen it all morning too IG. Even Yahoo can and does make mistakes

I suspect that this stuff is happening so fast and furious that they cannot even keep up with the pace?

Don

[legin]

21. i think this is the right story

This attack is on the Kirkuk - Baija leg of the pipeline, the previous story the attack is north of Baija on the Baija - to Turkey leg of the pipeline.

(I think. There have been so many attacks it is easy to get mixed up, we may have to keep a list for the future)

[NNN0LHI]

23. It is confusing

The story I posted was on Yahoo's main page when I posted it earlier. Now it is gone. Someone momentarily goofed I think? Bottom line though is that another pipeline was breached.

Don

[legin]

24. As you say NNN0LHI

They are all pretty much interchangeable ;-)

[IndianaGreen]

25. MSNBC has the story buried within the one about bombing suspects

Al-Qaida link to Iraq blast reported

<long snip>

OIL FIRE NEAR KIRKUK

In the latest such sabotage, an explosion and fire Saturday struck the export pipeline carrying oil from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk fields to Turkey. The huge blaze further delayed resumption of the vital link which costs Iraqis an estimated $7 million each day it is out of operation. The blast was the fourth to hit the line since it briefly reopened earlier this month.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/870749.asp?0cv=CA01

[legin]

26. Why not tell it like it is MSNBC

"The blast was the fourth to hit the line since it briefly reopened earlier this month."

Humbug.

I make it 4 times in the last 14 days, average 2 per week.

[Fovea]

27. I thought the name of the town was

Lidice...

Google it.

[aquart]

14. What, again?

Somebody's making a career of this.

I'm trying to imagine the resume.