Bomb sets pipeline afire; captives reported alive

[JoFerret]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/international/middleeast/11IRAQ.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq, July 10 — Striking with apparent impunity, saboteurs detonated an improvised bomb next to a gas pipeline north of Baghdad early Saturday in an area that has seen more than a dozen major pipeline attacks over the past year.

The attack shut down the gas pipeline, which feeds the enormous Bayji power plant, and set it on fire.

Only five days ago, another attack cut off a pipeline feeding several northern power plants, as well as a factory that makes gas canisters for use in Iraqi homes. Over the past year there have been more than 70 attacks on Iraqi oil and gas pipelines, oil plants and industry officials, according to a compendium maintained by the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington.

....

"When it's really hot outside and the electricity is out, that's a really good way to make you unhappy," she said.

With sporadic violence across Iraq on Saturday, reports suggested that three kidnapped foreigners remained alive after their abductors had threatened to kill them.

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[jmcgowanjm]

1. "This is a strategic issue"

The first organization to get hydrocarbons
out of Iraq in quantity wins Iraq.

And the US is not going to like the winner.

[cliss]

2. I've posted about this a few times:

1) The Iraqis are patient. They have survived the most gruesome circumstances. They also have long memories. They do not forget an injury. As long as there are people living on top of the US's Oil, there will be people sabotaging the pipeline. It's too long to guard (900 miles above-ground); they simply can't post a troop for every 100 feet to guard it. At that rate, they might as well BUY it from the Iraqis.

2) They have figured out the Americans' vulnerabilities. One is guerrilla warfare (we can't fight it) and the other is the pipeline. There's one thing that's even more vulnerable than the pipeline, and that's the oil refineries.