Iraq Real-Time (oil fires)

Dotsie~tmp

Some real-time images here of Iraq if your interested. Note two large oil fires at Basra.

dathi1

and also an interesting perspective from Arab News a Saudi news agency.http://www.arabnews.com/

Cork

The economic and environmental damage that these fires will create will be pretty big.

Saddam has burned oil wells before in Kuwait - Yet after 12 years of sanctions - he is at it again.

Regime Change?

Most definiately.

gandalf

Cork blah blah blah blah blah!!

Can you ever make a point or express your opinion without pointless repeated soundbites. You are coming so close to being banned permanently at the moment.

Gandalf.

bonkey

Originally posted by Cork
The economic and environmental damage that these fires will create will be pretty big.

No, they wont.

In Kuwait, Saddam fired something like 700 wells, across entire fields. In Iraq, so far, about a dozen fires is the maximum you will hear reports for so far.

Not only that, but the US media (e.g. CNN) has already been trotting out experts who say that the individual well fires are not significant, are relatively easy to control, and do not pose any threat - they will simply delay the incoming troops, and ensure that some of them are diverted to permanently guard the oilfields.

Saddam is trying to delay and divert US troops. THe longer he can keep this war running, the better chance he has of survival. Blowing his own fields, in their entirety would only be a "fsck you" gesture, which realistically he will not have the capability to do within a day or so from now, so the fact that only a few fires are burning shows that this looks more like another tactic to play on western fears and thus slow up the advance.

jc

Frank Grimes

Originally posted by Cork
The economic and environmental damage that these fires will create will be pretty big.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the exact reason the US troops are securing every oil installation that they can find, after all Bush is a champion of the cause of environmentalism.

Cork

Originally posted by bonkey


Blowing his own fields, in their entirety would only be a "fsck you" gesture, which realistically he will not have the capability to do within a day or so from now, so the fact that only a few fires are burning shows that this looks more like another tactic to play on western fears and thus slow up the advance.

jc

Agreed. But these oil fields are an important source of revenue in a post Saddam situation for the people of Iraq to build hospitals & Schools.

I think that these wells could be capped easily enough - but it does show scant regard for the natural resources of Iraq.

bonkey

Originally posted by Cork
Agreed. But these oil fields are an important source of revenue in a post Saddam situation for the people of Iraq to build hospitals & Schools.

Its 10 wells out of over 1000 in that region alone. It really is not a big deal in the overall picture. Honestly.

Look - there is no way Saddam could effectively defend the no-fly zone, as there was just too much surveillance going on there to allow him to do anything significant.

Instead, we see several small attacks - some shelling, a handful of missiles, a handful of oil wells - all of which causes the maximum disruption for virtually no cost in an area which was never possible to defend in the first place.

This is just me theorising on strategy here, but it makes far more sense than Hussein losing the rag at this early stage, unless you wish to believe that he has already conceded defeat and is simply trying to make it cost. I dont believe he is...not yet.

I think that these wells could be capped easily enough - but it does show scant regard for the natural resources of Iraq.

Agreed, but I can't really think of any aspect of war barring PSYOPS which is eco-friendly, so its kind of a moot point.

I will also wager that the incoming army burns more fuel per day than those 10 wells produce...if you really want to put the ecological damage into perspective.

Yes, its sad, but its a good tactical move in this war.

jc

jc