Iraqi Oil Pays for War

[Dingfod]

Iraqi oil is paying for the war, but not in the way intended.

500 tanker trucks a day leave the Baiji refinery, at least a third of which is destined for black market gas stations. Driver's have been hijacked or bribed, Oil Ministry officials have been bribed, papers are forged, and meters manipulated, the profits from which benefit the insurgency. The insurgency has become more about economics than insurgency, it's just a job, one which they think someone has to do. The skimming isn't limited to insurgents, the money is also flowing to the police, government officials, criminal gangs, tribes, local leaders, etc. as well. Given the high unemployment rates in Iraq, it is understandable the attraction that is all that money.

The insurgents have not attacked the refinery, they know what a revenue source it is for them, but when they want to send a message to refinery workers, they attack their neighborhoods. Recently, two suicide bombings in these neighborhoods killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 100. "It was the refinery being hit, without it being hit," 1st Lt. Trent Teague, who commands the 3rd Platoon of the headquarters company of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, the unit assigned to guard the Baiji refinery said.

Despite Iraq having the world's second largest oil reserves, the oil feeding the refineries and the fuels being burned by the military in Iraq are very likely imported from other countries. Surge that.