Quick roundup

• Iraq Pipeline Bombed Despite New U.S. Protection
  • Saboteurs have set an oil pipeline in northern Iraq on fire as a new U.S.-led force was deployed to protect the area's infrastructure, witnesses said Monday. The force, dubbed Task Force Shield, is made up of U.S. military personnel, a South African security contractor and local tribes. Exports revenues from oil sales are vital for U.S. hopes of paying for Iraq's reconstruction. Iraq has been exporting around 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) over the first 10 days of this month from its southern Basra oil terminal. Baghdad hopes to raise December exports to 1.5 million bpd. Before the war, Iraq was exporting 2.2 million bpd and the northern pipeline was capable of carrying around 800,000 bpd.
• Ramadi Car Bomb Said to Cause Casualties
  • A car bomb exploded late Wednesday outside the home of a pro-American tribal leader in Ramadi, killing at least one person and wounding others, a resident of the city said. Suleiman is a leader of the Duleim tribe, one of the largest Sunni Muslim tribes in Iraq. Suleiman, a member of the city council, is close to the Americans, and insurgents have threatened and targeted Iraqis who work with the coalition.
• Iraqis Say Saddam Not Leading Attacks
  • A former Iraqi general who claims to be part of the insurgency against U.S. troops says the guerrilla war around this "Sunni Triangle" city is being waged by small groups fighting on their own without direction from Saddam Hussein or others. He and two other Samara men, who said they are in separate guerrilla units, insisted in interviews with The Associated Press that their fight isn't aimed at returning Saddam to power. They said it's about ending the U.S.-led occupation and restoring Iraqi rule. .... Meeting with a reporter at the house of an acquaintance, he said he had only a half hour to speak because he was on his to way to ambush an American convoy on the Samara-Tikrit highway.

Posted by flow Frazao on November 19, 2003 at 04:28 PM | Permalink