A rchive Date
[ 03-07-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Iraq ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/07/02/125085-ap.html
Pipeline breach in Iraq
By PAUL HAVEN - Associated Press
Wed, July 2, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and British politicians vowed to stay the course in Iraq, despite an insurgency and daily attacks on coalition troops that have led some to fear a political and military quagmire.
Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier wounded in one of two ambushes near Baghdad Tuesday died overnight from his wounds, and saboteurs intent on stealing oil caused leaks that shut down one of Iraq's main oil pipelines.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the Iraqi people, not coalition troops, are the ones most hurt by attacks by Saddam Hussein loyalists. He promised the insurgents would never dissuade the coalition from its mission.
"There is absolutely no question of those attacks leading to a pullout," he said Wednesday in Kuwait before leaving for Iraq's southern city of Basra. "We will be staying in Iraq for as long as it takes to support the Iraqi people, to establish representative government, and to establish decent social and economic services for the Iraqi people."
Straw, who made the comments to Britain's Press Association, arrived later in Baghdad and was whisked to the city center in an air convoy of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters. In the convoy, he was meeting with former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerick, who is training a new Iraqi police force.
Meanwhile, a delegation of nine U.S. senators on a three-day tour of Iraq expressed confidence Tuesday in the U.S. mission, but acknowledged that risks remain.
"This coalition of armed forces is never, ever going to give in, irrespective of what is thrown at it," said John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "It will never give in until freedom replaces the tyranny of Saddam Hussein and his regime."
Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, called on the U.S. government to reach out to other nations to help rebuild Iraq, and called on his countrymen to stay committed to the process.
"We need the patience to stay the course," said Levin, a Democrat from Michigan.
In Washington, President Bush said Tuesday that anti-American violence was expected because Saddam loyalists will stop at nothing to regain power.
Thieves intent on stealing oil sliced a pair of breaches into one of Iraq's main oil pipelines near the southern city of Najaf on Monday night, causing a fire and oil spill that has closed the pipeline, an employee of Iraq's state-owned oil company said Wednesday.
The underground pipeline is used for both transporting oil for export and for supplying Iraqi refineries and power plants. It was not immediately clear if the breaches would affect the country's fledgling postwar oil exports - a key element of reconstruction.
The presence of armed looters in the area has prevented the company from sending repairmen to fix the line, which runs between the Rumaila oil fields in southern Iraq and the main switching station at the western town of Hadithah, said the employee of the Iraqi Oil Co., who asked not to be named.
The U.S. Marines sent a group to look at the extent of the damage about 25 miles west of the southern city of Najaf, but haven't returned to provide security for the repair job, the employee said.
A thick column of black smoke could be seen from the pumping station, six miles away.
"There will be no pumping until the damage is fixed, and fixing it depends on security and safety," the employee said.
In Baghdad, the top U.S. official in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said the U.S.-led provisional authority was "well on track to establish an Iraqi interim administration by mid-July."
The United States has pledged to set up a political council of 25 to 30 Iraqis that will appoint heads of ministries and be consulted on major decisions taken by the occupation government.
Bremer also said the U.S.-led authority has asked airlines to submit applications to resume commercial service to Baghdad.
"Day by day, conditions in Iraq continue to improve," said Bremer.
The comments come amid a worsening security situation and a sweep by U.S. forces to clamp down on anti-American insurgents. The operation, dubbed Sidewinder, moved into its fourth day Wednesday. The U.S. Army conducted 25 raids and detained 25 suspects, a military statement said. No major fugitives of Saddam's regime were among them.
The increasing attacks have killed more than 23 U.S. soldiers and wounded dozens more since major combat was declared over on May 1.
On Tuesday, assailants traveling in a vehicle in central Baghdad fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. military vehicle, wounding three soldiers. Another grenade slammed into a U.S. truck on a road south of Baghdad, injuring three soldiers, one of whom died at a field hospital overnight.
The soldier who died was a member of the U.S. Army's 352nd Civil Affairs Command, said a military statement.
In western Baghdad, U.S. troops shot and killed two people when their car didn't stop at a checkpoint Tuesday, witnesses said. A U.S. military spokesman said he had heard about the incident but could not confirm it. Later, two civilians were shot and killed at another checkpoint, one by soldiers who feared he was an insurgent and another by a stray bullet, witnesses said.
In other news, assailants gunned down the chief of Saddam's tribe in the ousted leader's hometown of Tikrit a few weeks after he publicly disavowed Saddam. Although the motive was unclear, Abdullah Mahmoud al-Khattab had many enemies, the regional governor said.
Al-Khattab the leader of Saddam's Bani al-Nasiri tribe, was shot and killed Sunday afternoon while he rode in his car.
Governor Hussein al-Jubouri said al-Khattab's son, Odai, also was wounded when assailants fired from a pickup truck and fled the scene, authorities said Tuesday.
The killing highlighted the shifting alliances that have characterized Iraq as the country emerges from 35 years of brutal, one-man rule.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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