And from a slightly different angle with a really long exposure... (I had no tripod. I was lying on the tarmac for this one...)
Posted on 06/30/2006 6:29:17 AM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
BEIJI, Iraq — For more than two years, the attacks came like clockwork. As soon as the military secured and workers repaired the pipelines from Iraq's northern oil fields, just when the valves were about to open, insurgents would strike. But roughly three weeks ago, they suddenly stopped, letting crude oil flow freely from Iraq's vast reserves near Kirkuk.
Perhaps insurgents feared reprisals in Salahuddin province, where pipelines from Kirkuk flow to the country's largest refinery in Beiji. Maybe terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death disrupted a chain of command that ordered the attacks, military officials said. Whatever the cause, the U.S. forces welcome the change, even if history since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 has shown the free flow of oil in Iraq is temporary at best. "I just hope that it lasts long enough where people start realizing 'We could be rich like Kuwaitis,' " said Army Lt. Col. Craig Collier, deputy commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. "But what is really going on? We don't know."
In the past three weeks, Iraq has exported 6.2 million barrels of crude to Turkey from its northern fields. Total exports from Iraq in that period, including the oil fields in the south, have increased to 2.5 million barrels per day, the highest level since the invasion, the Oil Ministry reported.
With a going market price of $60 a barrel in Turkey, military officials said they believe exports so far equate to about $372 million since oil began flowing from the north.
Iraq, a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, sits atop the world's third-highest proven reserves. Its estimated 115 billion barrels are exceeded in OPEC only by Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Bush administration predicted three years ago that Iraq would finance its own reconstruction.
Foreign fighters forced into the open The U.S. military claimed an advantage in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq on Thursday, saying raids since the death of its leader have forced many of its foreign fighters out into the open to be captured or killed. Iraq's bloodshed continued. At least 46 deaths from violence were reported across the country, including nine bullet-riddled bodies pulled from rivers — apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
Let's hope it continues. And while we're at it, let's hope we see gas prices go lower!
it just takes a little time....Go W as the dems self destruct....it couldn't happen to a smarmier bunch of politicians...
The 'sectarian death squads' or the pipeline?
(Yes, of course I'm joking...)
The AP is regrouping it's insurgents planning their next attack.
Yeah and maybe the manipulation of oil prices will stop and the price will come down!
And from a slightly different angle with a really long exposure... (I had no tripod. I was lying on the tarmac for this one...)
Kewl screen name...
Ahhhh, memories! ;-)
What a Rush!!!
This explains why the Dems are frantically trying to force the issue of a timetable, so they can steal the credit for the troop withdrawls that are already scheduled (if not yet published) to take place over the next year, the outcome of an increasingly successful US policy of setting up a native Iraqi military and political infrastructure.
It isn't that the Iraq insurgents *couldn't* blow up the pipelines, with Iranian help and enough desire I suspect they could still blow things up, but at an increasing cost to themselves in manpower, political capital, etc. But I also think Zarqawi was behind the pipeline strategy, and with him rotting in hell with 72 virgin she-pigs, the "new" insurgent leadership correctly sees blowing up the pipelines as a big negative.
I suspect the blowing up of the pipelines was *extremely* unpopular with Iraqis, the general population and in particular the new class of Iraqi politicians who want those revenues to line their own pockets, or even occassionally to improve the lot of the average Iraqi.
The insurgents are probably realizing that the longer they act like destroyers, the less likely they are to get a piece of the action after the US has wound down their operation.
Wouldn't that be something to see a future headline something to the effect of,
"NYT's REVEALS INTEL TO FREEDOM FIGHTERS TO THWART US INFIDELS".
Ohhhhh, I forgot, this already happened, only without the without the obvious headline...
You mean they aren't going to funnel them to gitmo where they will be coddled and protected by the SCOTUS and ACLU and the DimRAts and the NYSLIMES and cohorts???
What IS this war coming to!
I have suspicioned this all along - and chortle at them trying to guesstimate the right 'deadline' - they;re all over the board = one 'deadline' has got to be right - scum
for shame! you are insulting scum by placing them on the same level as the demonrats...
"I suspect that the Iraq war has entered into its endgame."
Correct. WE ARE WINNING.
Soon we will ask:
What if they held an anti-war protest and there wasn't a war to show up anymore?
I'd respond with "Don't worry, next time they'll bring the war to us."
I was right, dammit.
One other key is that the money is starting to actually flow back to the people, as it never did under Saddam. Patriotic feelings are sort of dim but they're getting brighter, but there isn't any faster way to a people's collective heart than through their collective pocketbook.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.