Militia Set Fire to Iraq Oil Well in New Tactic

[bemildred]

Muqtada plays hardball.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Shi'ite militia have set fire to an oil
well in southern Iraq, Baghdad said Monday, adopting a new
tactic in the uprising against U.S. forces and the new Iraqi
government.

"The well in a field near the city of Amara was targeted on
Sunday," an Iraqi government spokesman said.

While the attack on one of thousands of oil wells in Iraq's
southern fields will have negligible impact for production, it
underlines the threat to Iraq's oil infrastructure from the
Mehdi Army, followers of anti-U.S. cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The militia is mostly active in central and southern Iraq and
has threatened to attack oil facilities in response to the U.S.
offensive against Sadr and his followers in the city of Najaf,
a center of Shi'ite learning.

Reuters

[lil-petunia]

1. hotdamn. that took longer than I thought.

now that the US has abandoned most of Iraq, how long will it take for the whole country to go up in flames?

[markses]

2. The militias are mainly limited to the Shi'ite Quadrangle

Or a mere 1/2 of the country. The Shi'ite Quadrangle is not to be confused with the Sunni Triangle, which constitutes an additional 3/5 of the remaining half of the country, and is also reported to be a region of high instability. Luckily, the remaining 2/5, or 20% of the country, is firmly in the hands of the friendly Kurdish elements, so all's well in Iraq. It is merely the Shi'ite Quadrangle and the Sunni Triangle (that is, taken together, only 80% of the country) that are in chaos....;-)

[phillybri]

3. Glad to hear there's roughly 20% of Iraqis are glad to have us there...

:eyes:

[markses]

6. Hmmm

You're quick on the uptake, I see....

[lil-petunia]

4. except that the kurdish

have two groups, violently opposed to each other. So far, they are simply watching and waiting. They expect the US to run with its tail tucked in. And I suspect that over time, that will be precisely what happens.

Iran has supported one massively, and caused (or underwrote) a major rebellion a few years back, leading Saddam to counter-attack (the source of "he gassed his own people" stories) Iran is still a BIG player here and continues to foment some anti-US policies. Any leader selected and appointed by the US will find dealing with some Kurdish elements a very hard row to hoe.

The turkish kurds also have several sects and don't care much for each other, or the turks.

If anyone thinks that the Kurds are unified, and can be controlled by the White House, well, Alice in Wonderland is alive and well. They have used the WH and neo-cons brilliantly. Their refusal to fully engage in war, unless they received a free hand - a perfect no-lose strategy.

If you really want the inside scoop on the Kurds, take a look at several English Turk news sites. eye opening.

[Mari333]

5. Bush said the oil revenues were supposed to pay for the war , remember?

another bold faced lie.
Bring the troops home.
Impeach Bush
www.costofwar.com

[Junkdrawer]

7. Ruh Roh, killing our troops is one thing, but setting fire to oil wells...

will get Cheney's attention!