Tribes Accused of Iraq Oil Protection Racket

[Barrett808]

A main oil pipeline in northern Iraq was blown up by saboteurs on Thursday, sending smoke and flames high into the air, police in Baiji said today. The pipeline feeds the Baiji refinery with crude oil from the Kirkuk oil fields, and and an undetermined amount of crude oil has spilled into the valleys of the nearby Hemrin mountains, about 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad.

The same pipeline was hit on Wednesday, when a group of six saboteurs opened connections between two pipes, the US-Iraqi liaison office in Tikrit said today in a statement.

The state-owned North Oil Company (NOC) alleges that tribes paid to protect pipelines are behind many of the attacks on them around the Kirkuk oil fields.

The tribes insist, however, that the government is not doing enough to safeguard oil export routes.

(more)

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2005/2005-06-10-03.asp

[phantom power]

1. Isn't this a form of unregulated capitalism?

I mean, what is that oil pipeline worth to NOC? If it's safety is valuable to them, then they should have no problem with paying.

[daleo]

2. The puppet government charging someone else

With running an oil protection racket? It is too funny for words.

[6000eliot]

3. Now we know where at least some of the missing money is going.