Iraq oil security chief killed

[Robbien]

June 16, 2004

GHAZI Talabani, the security chief for Iraq's oil fields around the northern city of Kirkuk, was assassinated today outside his home, Iraqi police said.

"Ten minutes ago, he was attacked by armed men outside his home near the governorate building. He died instantly," Kirkuk police chief General Turhan Yussef said.

"One of his bodyguards was seriously wounded," he said.

Talabani, a member of Kurdish political chieftain Jalal Talabani's family, headed security for the Northern Oil Co, which presides over oil production in northern Iraq.

http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=1487244

[PartyPooper]

1. Uh Oh! More insurgents.

:eyes:

[markses]

2. Things are looking up...improving daily...

:eyes:

How our media can continue with this charade is a mystery for the ages. Catastrophe that these incompentents have led us into WILL be derided by history.

[izzie]

4. I see that the Iraq people want to control their oil.

Just who do they think they are ?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

10. He was a Kurd

I wish the hell people would stop refering to "the Iraqi people" as one monolithic bloc working in concert.

[0007]

12. You mean the Iraqis want to take our oil, don't you?

[Rowdyboy]

3. The Gates of Hell have been opened....

Its gonna be one helluva ride...

[Dover]

5. Do you suppose this has something to do with the Kurds recent hardcore

stance about representation in the new gov. and their canceled ceasefire with Turkey?

I think it must...and it ain't the "insurgents" who killed him....

[ze_dscherman]

9. He's a Kurd

"Ghazi Talabani, the Kurdish chief of security in Iraq's northern oil fields, was shot dead on Wednesday as he drove to work in the city of Kirkuk, 240km north of Baghdad. He was a cousin of Jalal Talabani, the veteran leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the Talabani family is native of the city.

Mr Talabani's murder seems calculated both as an attack on the Iraqi oil industry - the day after exports were slashed when saboteurs blew up a pipeline at Iraq's Basra oil terminal - and as a way of stoking ethnic tensions in Kirkuk, which has a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen.

Adel Murad, a senior PUK official, blamed the killing on "former Baathists", whom he said US forces had allowed to "run free" in the city."

SNIP

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373039903&p=1012571727102



http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373039903&p=1012571727102

[Aidoneus]

15. Re: the situation with Turkey

That has more to do with the northern Kurdistan movement PKK (now referring to itself as KONGRA-GEL/'Kurdistan People's Congress'), which is distinct from the southern Kurdistan movements. The latter are poor innoncent victims because they attack somebody US bombs are falling on, and former are evil terrorists because they attack somebody US bombs are sold to.

The resistance movements have been knocking of collaborators for months. Why would you think it wasn't one of them? Not everything is some sordid "BFEE" conspiracy..

[saigon68]

6. Another One bites the dust

His bodyguard was wounded. All of these puppets have bodyguards.

[Disturbed]

7. WTF?

Are only the PM, Pres. & VP actually not living in places where they can be so readily assasinated?

Seems that volunteering to be Minister of whatever there is almost a death wish.

[leftchick]

8. all of the ministry positions were hand picked by....

bremer/US, so yes that would be a death wish for sure.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Since the US can't even protect their hand picked officials,

how can anyone expect them to protect anyone else is Iraq?

It is the duty of the occupying force to provide adequate security for the occupied country. We continue to prove on a daily basis that the US is incapable of providing even the most basis level of security for the Iraqi people. Under the circumstances, it is time for us to go.

[Disturbed]

13. No exit strategy!

The US Govt. will build the largest embassy in the world in Iraq and build 14 Military bases there. There will be no exit unless the Iraqi people have a mass violent uprising against the Occupation. This "new" sovereign Govt. is only being thought of a real by ignorant Americans, certainly not by most Iraqis. The US govt is making deals with anyone they can, former Baathists and al Sadr, anyone, to keep the violence at bay. the upsurge is expected to rise in July. Will BushCo suceed in keeping Iraq subdued after July?

[Nlighten1]

14. They will all be dead by next year at this rate.

[dbt]

16. Oil Terra!

This is the new, improved, '05 edition of Striking At The Heart Of The Great Satan. Notice any pipelines under attack recently?

:freak:
dbt

[underpants]

17. Well he obviously wasn't very good at his job

When your chief of security gets killed things ARE bad.

[saigon68]

18. LOL--- Brilliant Post

It illustrates the obvious so well

Security Chief?????? Bah Humbug----

[AlCzervik]

19. Jon Stewart was right

they do need 2 vp's cause there are going to be alot of state funerals.

[dArKeR]

20. Look at the CBS's last pic here. Most gear I've ever seen a Soldier wear!

I usuallly notice these kinds of things in published pics. I don't ever recall seeing a soldiers wearing so much gear!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml

[teryang]

21. Poll results not released to American public

<A poll, requested by the Coalition Provisional Authority last month but not released to the American public, found more than half of Iraqis surveyed believed both that they'd be safer without U.S. forces and that all Americans behave like the military prison guards pictured in the Abu Ghraib abuse photos. >

[Sabriel]

22. Here's a solution...

Hire "civilian contractors" to fill those positions. Blackwater, anyone?
Sabriel