| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
11 Dec 2003 02:45:20 PM |
| Object: |
Iraqi oil pipeline explodes. Another copter down. |
From The Associated Press, 12/11/03:
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20031211_654.html
MOSUL, Iraq --
An Apache helicopter that crash-landed near the northern city of Mosul
might have been hit by ground fire while making a low pass over the
area, U.S. soldiers said Thursday.
Meanwhile an explosion set fire to an oil pipeline, forcing officials
to halt the flow.
A military spokesman had insisted that the helicopter was forced to
crash land on Wednesday because of mechanical failure and that the
crew, who were uninjured, reported no ground fire.
But a commander later said that he didn't know whether ground fire
brought down the chopper from the 101st Airborne Division.
The Apache came down near a highway about 15 miles south of Mosul,
Iraq's third-largest city, which has been the site of escalating
anti-occupation resistance.
Troops guarding the site where the burned-out wreckage was still
smoldering on Thursday morning said the chopper had been hit by enemy
fire while flying over the area on a low-level patrol.
They asked not to be identified.
"The helicopter was shot down," one said.
Brig. Gen. Frank Helmick of the 101st later said the cause of the
crash was unclear.
"We don't know what happened," he said.
"It could have been a mechanical failure but again, we are looking at
all possibilities."
Mosul was the site of the deadliest incident so far involving U.S.
forces.
On Nov. 17, two Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed, killing
17 soldiers.
Although military spokesmen initially insisted that the collision was
the result of an accident, officers have since acknowledged that
ground fire was the likely cause.
Also Thursday, Ghazi al-Talabani, director of the Northern Field
Protection Force, which guards pipelines in northern Iraq, said an
explosion set a pipeline ablaze, forcing officials to halt the flow.
He said the pipeline links the Beiji refinery in northern Iraq with
the al-Doura refinery near Baghdad.
A complex grid of pipelines move oil and natural gas throughout the
region, and it was unclear how major the pipeline was.
An official said the U.S.-led occupation authority couldn't confirm a
break at that location.
If it is confirmed that the Apache was brought shot down, it would be
the sixth military helicopter downed in six weeks.
_______________________________________________________
(Situation in Iraq) `better than you probably think,'
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
"My answer is: Bring them on."
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
"There will be no retreat."
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
"Americans are not the running kind."
Georgie W. AWOL Bush
Ex-Lawmaker Says He Helped Bush Join the Guard in Vietnam War
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/092799wh-gop-bush.html
Texan Questioned on Role in Helping Bush Join National Guard
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/092899wh-gop-bush.html
While Americans were dying in Vietnam and demonstrating in America,
our hawkish President did neither. He went AWOL!
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=216
Harry
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| User: "Roedy Green" |
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| Title: Re: Iraqi oil pipeline explodes. Another copter down. |
11 Dec 2003 04:55:02 PM |
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On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 20:45:20 GMT, Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com>
wrote or quoted :
Meanwhile an explosion set fire to an oil pipeline, forcing officials
to halt the flow.
I was reading a book about the history of Afghanistan and Unocal's
insistence there be a stable government OF ANY STRIPE, before they
could go ahead with the various Caspian pipelines there.
Unocal explained that if that were not so, the pipelines would be
extremely vulnerable to being blown up.
This seems to be exactly what is happening in Iraq. Pipelines run
through miles of trackless wastelands.
If America wants Iraqi pipelines flowing, it is going to have to
convince the Iraqi people they are better off with the Americans there
and running the pipelines. The Americans will never succeed in that
if they squash clerics with tanks, murder children by the half dozen,
or set up Israeli style hit squads.
--
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green.
Coaching, problem solving, economical contract programming.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/jgloss.html for The Java Glossary.
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