There have been nearly 600 pipeline attacks in Iraq since March 2003, though recent security strategies have allowed additional flow in the northern pipeline.
Attacks are also increasing in the power sector, especially among workers being targeted, according to an assessment from March 2003 to Nov. 17, 2007, made for United Press International by an expert in threats and vulnerabilities to the energy sector worldwide.
Iraq’s oil pipelines have been attacked at least 576 times, according to the expert, who analyzes data for UPI on the condition of anonymity, and oil fields and wells 45 times.
The entire United Press International story is HERE.
A pipeline from Kirkuk to Baiji was bombed Friday, Gulf News via Iraq Updates reports.
Iran’s Press TV reports it won’t affect exports.
Other coverage of it includes:
Associated Press via International Herald Tribune
Iraq’s Parliament will hold what will surely be a contentious session on the country’s oil sector, with the national and Kurdish oil ministers summoned.
Iraqi media reports confirmed what sources had previously told United Press International on condition of anonymity: the dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the national government over KRG oil deals is striking a chord in Baghdad.
Parliamentarians from Dawa, Fadhila and Sadr parties, National Dialogue Council, National List, National Dialogue Front, Reform and Progress Party, Turkoman, Yazidi and Rafidayin fronts apparently held a press conference Sunday demanding a number of things, including action by Baghdad on the KRG deals they claim are “illegal,” blacklisting companies who sign with the KRG.
Political and religious groups in the oil-rich city of Basra have signed a new peace accord to stem violence as British troops transfer control.
Women a target in oil-rich Basra, as at least 40 bodies have been found recently, increasingly targets of religious fundamentalists.
Excerpts from an interview of Chevron Corp. Vice Chairman Peter J. Robertson, by Lee Hudson Teslik for the Council on Foreign Relations.
When the situation in Iraq stabilizes, there’s a significant opportunity for Iraqi production to grow. To double or triple, over a period of time. And when and if the situation in Iran settles down, to where international companies can invest in Iran, there’s an opportunity to increase production there. So there’s a lot of “ifs” associated with it, but there’s clearly the potential for significant increases in production from the Middle East. …
But we’ve got lots of demand in the world, and it’s all going to depend on access. It’s going to depend on how well we do in the world on becoming more efficient. Leadership, both in this country and in others, could make a lot of progress on efficiency, and maybe slow down the demand increase. There’s plenty of gas in the world, and plenty of oil in the world, to keep prices well below where they are today. The question is, can we get access to it, will the investments be made, and what will the demand look like? In many of the countries that have these resources, the investments just aren’t being made. Investments aren’t being made in Russia at the rate they need to be. They’re not being made in Mexico at the rate they need to be. They’re not being made in Venezuela at the rate they need to be. They’re not being made in Kuwait at the rate they need to be. And Iraq. What happens in these places will define what the price of oil and gas is ten, fifteen years from now.
Iraq’s Civil Resistance, by Bill Weinberg in The Nation.
On July 4 the leader of a popular citizens’ self-defense force in Baghdad was executed. According to the Iraq Freedom Congress (IFC)–a civil resistance coalition–a unit of US Special Forces troops and Iraqi National Guard forces raided the home of Abdel-Hussein Saddam at 3 am, opening fire without warning on him and his young daughter. The attackers took Abdel-Hussein, leaving the girl bleeding on the floor. Two days later his body was found in a local morgue. Since late last year Abdel-Hussein had been the leader of the Safety Force, a civil patrol organized by the IFC to protect their communities. Like many IFC leaders, he had been an opponent of Saddam Hussein’s regime and was imprisoned for two years in the 1990s. His death was mostly ignored by the world media. …
IFC leaders, including president Samir Adil, who said, “Because he said, ‘No Sunni, no Shiite, yes to human identity,’ because he wanted to build a civil society in Iraq without occupation, without sectarian militias–for that they killed Abdel-Hussein. They think they can defeat the IFC, the only voice in Iraq that says yes to a free society, yes to a nonviolent society, no to occupation, no to sectarian gangsters. But contrary to that, after the assassination, many people joined the IFC. We received messages of solidarity from around the world. As long as we have the support of people like you, we will never give up.” …
Adil is clear on where he places the blame for the crisis of violent sectarianism. “The occupation and the US-imposed Constitution have divided Iraq, Sunni against Shiite. The IFC is the only force to oppose this division of society.”
The Safety Force is increasingly made up of trade unionists, a growing pillar of support for the IFC. In a September 8 press conference in Basra, representatives of the IFC’s Anti-Oil Law Front joined leaders of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions to warn the Iraqi Parliament against passing the US-written oil law, which would grant broad access to foreign multinationals. IFOU president Hassan Juma’a, also a member of the IFC’s central council, announced that the union will shut down the pipeline leading from Iraq’s southern oilfields if the law is approved. Five days earlier, the IFC had staged a protest in Baghdad’s Liberation Square. American forces surrounded the rally, blocking access to the square.
Weinberg’s also the editor of the online journal World War 4 Report and a co-founder of the National Organization for the Iraqi Freedom Struggles.
Iraq’s Economy
Baghdad press urges revolt against financial, administrative corruption, Voice of Iraq news agency reports.
Iraq Bonds Rally on Troop Surge, Oil Earnings, Highest Yields, Lester Pimentel reports for Bloomberg.
The country’s $2.7 billion of 5.8 percent bonds due in 2028 returned 15.2 percent since July, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. index data. Only Ecuador’s debt gained more, rising 18 percent. Iraq’s securities yield 6.21 percentage points more than Treasuries, the most of any dollar-denominated government debt. …
A 46 percent increase this year in the price of crude oil, Iraq’s biggest export, has also boosted demand for the debt. Production rose to 2.5 million barrels a day from 2 million in September, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said last month. Crude reached a record $99.29 a barrel on Nov. 21.
The Iraqi Stock Exchange (ISX) index plummeted by 1% on Thursday compared to the previous session, closing at 34.400 points with a notable absence of non-Iraqi investors trading, Voice of Iraq reports.
U.S. plans to form job corps for Iraqi security volunteers: Shiite-led government’s slow hiring of Sunnis prompted change, Karen DeYoung and Amit R. Paley report for The Washington Post.
The Iraqi government and the UN have launched local regions development project aiming at boosting the local authorities’ capabilities and Iraq’s economy, Voices of Iraq reports.
Security, Society and Politics
Moqtada al-Sadr has helped reduce violence in Iraq, said Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, Ann Scott Tyson reports for The Washington Post.
Sadr militia moves to clean house: Since halting attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces, the Shiite cleric’s Mahdi Army has been weeding out alleged rogue elements, Ned Parker reports for the Los Angeles Times.
A few days after the Arab bloc’s decision to return to Kirkuk province council, Kurdish leaders began a political settlement process between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, which may end years of political uncertainty in the city, Basil Adas reports for Gulf News.
A top Sunni legislator among political untouchables in Iraq, Kathleen Ridolfo reports for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Kurdistan region’s foreign policy explained, by Falah Mustafa Bakir, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Head of Foreign Relations.
A Pentagon audit of a $5.2 billion fund used to train and equip Iraqi security forces found that United States commanders used sloppy accounting and could not always show that equipment, services and construction were delivered properly, the Associated Press reports via The New York Times.
The surge is a sideshow. Only total US pullout can succeed, writes Jonathan Steele in The Guardian. When resistance leaders are given an assurance that the Iraq occupation will end completely, real negotiations can begin.
After the Surge: The Only Iraq Worth Fighting For, by Keith W. Mines, Coalition Provisional Authority Governance Coordinator for the Al Anbar province of Iraq from August 2003 to February 2004, published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
“Four major proposals for a way forward in Iraq have been proposed over the past months, all of which ignore Iraq’s political center of gravity. …
Only 18-state federalism can create a united and functioning Iraq, and this starts with Iraqis, in the arena, engaging each other and getting on with the business of reforming their state in a way that it can function.”—-
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