LAT: Mortar Attack Sets Off Iraqi Oil Plant Inferno

[DeepModem Mom]

Mortar Attack Sets Off Iraqi Oil Plant Inferno
By Solomon Moore, Times Staff Writer


BAGHDAD -- Iraqi oil workers were fighting a blaze at a major petroleum facility in Kirkuk today that was caused by three mortar rounds. The attack stopped production at the facility and shut down an electricity plant supported by the oil installation, according to an official at the North Oil Co.

The official said the incident was "the most severe attack we have ever faced." The mortar rounds also further damaged an important pipeline — which was out of order and under repair — that exports oil to Turkey....

***

There was also violence in Shiite-dominated eastern Baghdad, where two car bombs detonated at a gas station and a popular market, killing 16 people and injuring 90 others.

The explosions followed a predawn U.S. helicopter attack in Sadr City, a large slum named after the father of firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, in which one Iraqi woman was killed and a 2-year-old child was injured. U.S. forces also killed four gunmen, who were allegedly firing on U.S. helicopters.

U.S. military officials also announced the deaths of five servicemen today. A Marine and a soldier were killed Wednesday in separate gunfights in Fallouja and southwestern Baghdad, respectively. A roadside bomb killed three soldiers while on patrol in south Baghdad. The U.S. deaths were the first since Jan. 28....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-020206oil_lat,0,6387124.story?coll=la-home-world

[saigon68]

1. "FREEDOM IS ON THE MARCH" screamed the AWOL CHIMPANZEE

"As long as Exxon makes a substantial profit", he cotinued.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. This was a particularly gruesome report --

freedom on the march, indeed.

[Auntie Bush]

4. The more war we have the more oil we use and the bigger the profits.

It pays certain people to have war. Isn't it funny that ALL the people pushing war are all making millions. My, my what a coincidence!

[Bigmack]

3. Was watching ABC news....

.. they reported the 5 dead, but didn't say what the total was.

NOT reporting something is biased, too.

[KoKo]

5. I'm on Cable Blackout/Boycott....I wonder if CNN even reported it...becaus

Americans need to know this...but will it be a "scrolling feed" way down at the bottom...or something covered as a "Feature?" :shrug:

[Geo55]

6. They know why we're there,

Dickhead will never get the oil pigout that he seeks....no matter how many bases they build.
Wait till they hit something REALLY important , say , in Saudi Arabia

[BrotherBuzz]

7. The Iraqi civil war will officially begin at Kirkuk

The Kurds want control of their oil in that contested region so they can make a clean break from Iraq . Our boys are going to get killed getting in the middle of an event that is inevitable.

[cliss]

8. You could very well

be right. I'd say the fuse is burning, and it may happen soon.

The problem is, once the Kurds get involved, Turkey will go into a thermonuclear meltdown. They have a huge Kurdish population that wants to break away from Turkey and create their own state.....in Iraq, of course.

On top of that very valuable Black Gold.

Watch WWIII start very quickly.

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. Iraq melt down. The oil refineries are sitting ducks.

After they get bored with killing marines, they will move on to the bigger targets.

[Vogon_Glory]

10. Wasn't The Real War Goal To Secure The Oil?

Wasn't the real war aim of Team Shrub's invasion of Iraq to secure Iraq's oil supply? Doesn't look like that goal can be moved over to the "mission accomplished" category, now can it?

[Igel]

11. Possibly.

But we don't import processed goods from Iraq. They're for local consumption.

They bomb a refinery in Iraq, it shows one of two things. Either overweening ignorance and stupidity, or a desire to hurt their fellow Iraqis. You embarrass the rulers while provoking discontent.

Bomb a refinery that provides gasoline and fuel for a generation plant, and you hurt women and children, you hurt working class families where the breadwinner's trying to get to work, you make it harder for hospitals and schools to function.

[hatrack]

12. Wasn't this the oil that was going to pay for the war?

I guess not . . .