The United States intends to safeguard the Iraqi oilfields in case Saddam tries to wreck havoc on his way out the door, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told an NBC interviewer.
Powell’s statement was voiced amid reports that a possible US-led strike on Iraq would initially target the country’s oil-rich northern region, in a bid to ensure the fleeing forces don't set the fields ablaze, as the Iraqis have done upon their withdrawal from Kuwait in 1991.
Oil hubs Mosul and Kirkuk are likely to be the primary focus of such an early attack, according to diplomatic sources. Deploying the campaign in northern Iraq would also allow the coalition to rally the support of the region’s large Kurdish population and cut off Saddam’s regime from its oil revenues.
“If a coalition of forces goes into those oil fields, we would want to protect those fields and make sure that they are used to benefit the people of Iraq and are not destroyed or damaged by a failing regime on the way out the door,” Powell stated.
Preparing for a post-Saddam era, the Bush administration is also considering the implications of a plan to hike Iraq's oil production in the aftermath of a military strike as a means of financing the country’s reconstruction efforts, reported Reuters.
While increased output would lower oil prices for Western oil-consuming nations, it is expected to cut into the revenues of key US oil-producing allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. Revenue generated from the oilfields would be used “in accordance with international law and to benefit the people of Iraq," stated Powell.
Meanwhile, the heightened state of alert in the Arabian Gulf and Venezuelan strike drove international oil prices up, with US crude prices topping $33 a barrel on Monday, December 30, setting another two-year high. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
