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Life in Mosul's gasoline alley
The News Tribune - Tacoma, WA ^ | February 7th, 2004 | MICHAEL GILBERT

Posted on 02/07/2004 6:21:21 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4

MOSUL, Iraq - The lifeblood of northern Iraq flows through a muddy truck yard north of Mosul that U.S. forces call Linkup Point Foxtrot.

Six hundred to 800 fuel trucks laden with gasoline, diesel, kerosene and propane roll in from Turkey each morning for delivery to gas stations and depots across Nineveh, Dohuk and Irbil provinces.

At Foxtrot, Stryker troops and Iraqi fuel company representatives sort out the trucks by destination and send them on their way.

The operation is complicated by black market activity, profiteering, ethnic tensions, the constant threat of roadside bombs and ambushes, and garden variety crime.

But few of the brigade's daily missions are as important to Iraqis as what goes on at Foxtrot. The daily drill ensures some 4 million people get fuel to heat their homes, cook their food, drive their vehicles and power their generators.

It's also critical to the safety of U .S. forces.

"If this fuel wasn't moving," said Stryker brigade Sgt. 1st Class Richard Rice, who supervises the Foxtrot show, "they'd be lighting us up."

Ethnic tension and black market sales

As improbable as it might seem, Iraq - sitting on oil reserves said to be the second-largest in the world - can't manufacture enough gas to meet its needs. In addition, there are no refining facilities in the north because Saddam Hussein kept tight control of the country's oil wealth.

Before the war, northern Iraqis relied on fuel piped up from the south and from black market fuel smuggled from Turkey.

Now, the U.S.-sponsored Coalition Provisional Authority buys 600 or so Turkish truckloads a day of the Iraqi economy's four essential fuels.

Kellogg, Brown and Root, the Halliburton subsidiary, has the contract to deliver the fuel from Turkey to Iraq and employs numerous subcontractors. It's part of a disputed $61 million in Halliburton petroleum distribution contracts that has drawn the scrutiny of Pentagon auditors and Democratic critics in recent weeks.

The trucks leave the Habur Gate border crossing about 7:30 a.m. every day escorted by Kurdish pesh merga security forces.

Here's where some of the ethnic tensions come in: Soldiers said they've had to encourage "the pesh" not to beat up Turkish drivers who suffer the misfortune of engine trouble or a blowout.

Through interpreter Imad Aril Abdull Aziz, drivers Wednesday said each trip takes three to five days and they make $500 to $600 per trip. (Actually, Imad said they make as much as $900, but they told him to lowball the amount for the English-speaking visitor.)

Rice and Maj. Frank O'Donnell, the Stryker brigade's representative to the oil industry in northern Iraq, said the temptation to work the black market is strong for the drivers.

Benzene - the fuel for cars and trucks - sells for 8 cents a gallon in Iraq. That's an artificially low price imposed by the provisional authority to avoid further chaos for consumers, O'Donnell said.

But in Turkey the gas sells for $1 a liter, he said. (That's the equivalent of more than $3.75 a gallon.)

Drivers at Foxtrot all vie for the shortest, easiest delivery runs so they can sell what they have left when they return to Turkey. Or some arrange to deliver most, but not all, of what they bring into Iraq, with the agreement to split the proceeds from black market sales of what remains.

U.S. and Iraqi Oil Ministry authorities are beginning to crack down on the black market activity and profiteering, but it's slow going, officials said.

Rough-and-tumble fuel depot

O'Donnell attends a daily oil and fuel meeting in downtown Mosul at which he monitors the Iraqi officials who decide how many trucks will go to each of the cities, towns and villages across the three provinces. The meeting usually wraps up by 10 a.m., just in time to send the information north to Foxtrot.

There, Rice and the fuel reps sort it out and begin to move the trucks onto the highway.

The closest trips usually get dispatched last, so there's an incentive for the drivers to loiter.

That's where Sgt. Leo Johnson and his bullhorn come in. He shouts in Kurdish - "git ARRaba" - and in Arabic - "yay YAseeyada" - for the drivers to get into their trucks. Those Turkish drivers who don't speak either language seem to get the picture.

Johnson has to yell these phrases over and over, but eventually the drivers move out.

Despite the rough-and-tumble atmosphere, the soldiers develop mostly friendly relations with the drivers and fuel reps. Johnson and Sgt. Brandon Corkish were welcomed with hugs and kisses on the cheek by a rep named Abu Mahmoud.

"It's like a respect thing," Corkish said. "Mostly the older men do it, not the younger guys."

Rice, a hard-nosed former Ranger, is the enforcer. He had to thump a guy the other day who ignored his order to stop smoking next to a leaking propane tank.

Then there was the driver who spat on him after Rice knocked the liquor out of his hand. Had to scuff him up pretty good, too.

Like any truck stop, Foxtrot attracts merchants seeking to separate the drivers from their dough. A little cluster of kebab shacks and tobacco stands and fake-Rolex salesmen sits outside the Foxtrot gate, along with a gaggle of currency changers.

Having just registered a batch of money-changers the day before as a means of keeping control at the gate, Rice had no patience for a half-dozen who showed up Wednesday and asked if they could set up shop.

"Were you here yesterday?" he said, distracted as he tried to direct traffic.

No, they said.

"Then get out of here," Rice replied. And that was that.

Likewise, he had to call out an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps major whose troops failed to show up two days running to escort fuel trucks to Hammamalia. As a consequence, no deliveries were made to the town, Rice said.

The major, Ali Ibrahim Ali Al-Jaburi, said his men were detailed the first day for deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz's visit to Mosul, and took the next day off for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha.

"I understand," Rice said. "But we have holidays in America too, and I am here trying to help you.

"You were in the Iraqi army," he added, appealing to his counterpart soldier-to-soldier. "Your mission is to escort these trucks."

Happy to help the Iraqis

The soldiers working at Foxtrot are from the brigade's 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment. There's little call for 155 mm howitzer fire around Mosul these days, so the gunners have been transformed into infantrymen.

Which is not all bad, said Pfc. Alfonso Pulido.

Working at Foxtrot is as close to a 9-to-5 job as there is in the battalion, he said, and he enjoys the chance to meet the Iraqi people. When the trucks are sent out of the yard, soldiers have to stop traffic on the highway and walk among the cars looking for anything suspicious.

Most of the time the people smile and wave, he said, and offer him candy, cigarettes and other goodies.

He and his buddies say they like that what they do directly helps the Iraqis.

The field artillery is fun, but it gets old after a while, said Pulido, who usually works as the guy on the gun team who gets to pull the lanyard and fire the weapon.

"This is pretty good."

Staff writer Michael Gilbert is embedded with the Stryker brigade in Iraq. He was embedded with the 62nd Medical Brigade in Mosul last year. Reach him at mjgilbert41@yahoo.com.

For reports on the Stryker brigade, sign up for an e-mail newsletter at www.tribnet.com/registration.

(Published 12:01AM, February 7th, 2004)


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; US: Illinois; US: Mississippi; US: Washington; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 3rdbde2id; arrowheadbde; mosul; sbct; stryker

Stryker Brigade Combat Team Tactical Studies Group (Chairborne)

1 posted on 02/07/2004 6:21:21 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
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To: af_vet_rr; ALOHA RONNIE; American in Israel; American Soldier; archy; armymarinemom; BCR #226; ...
Stryker Ping
2 posted on 02/07/2004 6:22:33 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
$.08/gallon!?

Well, until they get to something like a free-market price, there will always be huge black-market profiteering. There is way too much price differential there to not expect many players at arbitrage.
3 posted on 02/07/2004 6:45:34 AM PST by FreedomPoster (This space intentionally blank)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4; MJY1288; xzins; Calpernia; TEXOKIE; Alamo-Girl; windchime; Grampa Dave; ...

Six hundred to 800 fuel trucks laden with gasoline, diesel, kerosene and propane roll in from Turkey each morning for delivery to gas stations and depots across Nineveh, Dohuk and Irbil provinces.

The operation is complicated by black market activity, profiteering, ethnic tensions, the constant threat of roadside bombs and ambushes, and garden variety crime..

The soldiers working at Foxtrot are from the brigade's 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment. .....gunners have been transformed into infantrymen.

Which is not all bad, said Pfc. Alfonso Pulido.

.....soldiers have to stop traffic on the highway and walk among the cars looking for anything suspicious.

          Most of the time the people smile and wave....offer him candy, cigarettes...

He and his buddies say they like that what they do directly helps the Iraqis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Related:

8 'Devil Siphon’ stopping Iraqi fuel black market ~ 1/5th Field Artillery Bn, 1st Infantry Division  ~ "The Devil's Brigade" ~ Army News Service | 2/06/04 | Pfc. J. H. French

 Stryker Brigade, ping!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Stryker Brigade prayer


4 posted on 02/07/2004 7:02:18 AM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
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To: smaagee
Ping

Of interest to you?

5 posted on 02/07/2004 7:40:35 AM PST by Graybeard58
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
Any plans to build a refinery up there?

Lots of problems I'll bet, between the terrorists trying to blow it up and the Turks trying their best to block the oppoisition.

Yet, this is like the "feed a man a fish" as compared to "give him a fishing rod" routine.
6 posted on 02/07/2004 8:16:49 AM PST by Oatka
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
"The field artillery is fun, but it gets old after a while, said Pulido, who usually works as the guy on the gun team who gets to pull the lanyard and fire the weapon."
LOL!

I never got tired of firing.
7 posted on 02/07/2004 8:26:39 AM PST by Darksheare (The SCARES will haunt the mind, eventually inducing derangement and senility!)
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To: Oatka
Iraq supposedly has the largest oil reserves in the area.
When are their refineries going to be up and running?
8 posted on 02/07/2004 9:10:12 AM PST by R. Scott (My cynicism rises with the proximity of the elections.)
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To: Darksheare
Yeah, how can you get tired of making the gun go boom? I don't get tired pulling the lanyard, but sponging the bore on a hot day with a new sponge takes it toll after about 20 rounds. But you breech loader guys wouldn't know anything about that.
9 posted on 02/07/2004 9:40:09 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
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10 posted on 02/07/2004 9:55:16 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (The road to Glory cannot be followed with too much baggage.)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
Well, we DID have to 'punch' the tube with the bore brush supposedly after every 50 rounds or every other End Of Mission.
What it ended up being was bore brush run through the tube once we got out of the field.
*sigh*
But how in the world can anyone get tired of firing the howitzer?!
Must be more proof of the axiom, "You know who is cut out for artillery the second the first round goes off. Born artillerymen will hoot, howl, beat their chests, and inhale the smoke with a wild gleam in their eyes. Those NOT cut out to be artillerymen will try to run away from the artillery piece."
11 posted on 02/07/2004 10:39:14 AM PST by Darksheare (The SCARES will haunt the mind, eventually inducing derangement and senility!)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Stryker Brigade ~ Bump!
12 posted on 02/07/2004 12:45:40 PM PST by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Bump!
13 posted on 02/07/2004 1:56:12 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Darksheare
"You know who is cut out for artillery the second the first round goes off. Born artillerymen will hoot, howl, beat their chests, and inhale the smoke with a wild gleam in their eyes. Those NOT cut out to be artillerymen will try to run away from the artillery piece."

I love that! Who said that? Too bad it won't fit on a tagline

14 posted on 02/07/2004 3:35:41 PM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 ("You know who is cut out for artillery the second the first round goes off. Born artillerymen will h)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
Stryker are great !!! Hero !!!
15 posted on 02/07/2004 3:49:00 PM PST by serurier (We come here for the freedom of the world)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Bump!
16 posted on 02/07/2004 4:44:59 PM PST by windchime (Podesta about Bush: "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done." (TIME-1/22/01))
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
A Darksheare original quote from my stay in uniform.
From AT at Fort Drum in 1999.
We had a guy get switched from admin to the gunline, and at the firing of the first round he leaped four feet vertical before trying to flee from the howitzer.
Of course, it didn't help that he was stuck as the number one man on an M119A1 where you're inside the trails.
*chuckle*
17 posted on 02/07/2004 5:51:44 PM PST by Darksheare (The SCARES will haunt the mind, eventually inducing derangement and senility!)
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