Iraq’s oil police vs the rebel saboteurs
Clutching binoculars, the men stand in watchtowers behind razor wire and scan the horizon for threats as squads of their colleagues patrol the desert armed with machine guns. It is a mission to guard. But, at first glance, what they are protecting doesn't look like much at all. A black plastic pipe, remarkable for nothing […]Barry Malone of Al Jazeera reports:
Clutching binoculars, the men stand in watchtowers behind razor wire and scan the horizon for threats as squads of their colleagues patrol the desert armed with machine guns.
It is a mission to guard. But, at first glance, what they are protecting doesn't look like much at all.
A black plastic pipe, remarkable for nothing but its unusually large size and the dirt that streaks its sides, snakes over the sand for maybe 300m before burrowing under the earth. Old newspapers and other rubbish line its sides near the high fence that keeps people away.
