Reply #13: Occupation tanks poised to enter Falluja (blood for oil)

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http://www.antiwar.com/
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E8E5D69B-FF87-4E8C-9CF8-637197702743.htm
Occupation tanks poised to enter Falluja

Wednesday 09 June 2004, 14:54 Makka Time, 11:54 GMT

US troops have not patrolled Falluja since 10 May

US tanks have taken up positions around Falluja and appear to be preparing to enter the Iraqi city.
(snip)
A Sunni Muslim bastion, Falluja was rocked to its foundations in April by some of the heaviest fighting in Iraq since the US-led invasion began last year.

The last US troop patrol in the city was on 10 May, shortly after they struck an agreement with resistance fighters to end a weeks-long siege and allow Iraqi police and ex-army figures to maintain security.

The tank patrol follows an attack overnight on an Iraqi general charged with imposing security in Falluja.
Pipeline targeted
(snip)
Earlier, saboteurs ruptured an oil pipeline linking the Kirkuk oil fields with Iraq's largest fuel refinery at Baiji, 200km north of Baghdad.

Iraqi officials confirmed that the night attack on Wednesday forced a 400-megawatt power station near the refinery to shut down.


The Kirkuk pipeline attack caused
a power station to be shut down
(snip)

http://www.thestreet.com/_tsclsii/markets/marketfeatures/10165445.html
Oil Prices Churn Higher

By TSC Staff
6/10/2004 12:26 PM EDT

Updated from 7:45 a.m.

Oil prices moved back above $38 a barrel Thursday, following a weeklong slump in which the benchmark U.S. crude fell 12% from its record high of $42.45 a barrel.

Crude was up 91 cents, or 2.4%, to $38.45 a barrel, while gasoline prices added 1.6 cents, or 1.3%, to $1.183 a gallon.

A U.S. government report Wednesday showing a modest increase in energy supplies briefly pushed crude below $37 a barrel to a six-week low, and prices have been gaining ever since.

The market's May rally crumbed last week as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries moved to cool price speculation about short supply by saying it would boost its official production ceiling by up to 2.5 million barrels a day this summer, an 11% increase over its June ceiling of 23.5 million barrels a day.
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