Iraq Oil Pipeline to Flow to Israel....... ( a must read)

[cthrumatrix]

U.S. checking possibility of pumping oil from northern Iraq to Haifa, via Jordan

Monday, August 25, 2003 Av 27, 5763
By Amiram Cohen

The United States has asked Israel to check the
possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil
refineries in Haifa. The request came in a
telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official
to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem.

The Prime Minister's Office,
which views the pipeline to
Haifa as a "bonus" the U.S.
could give to Israel in return
for its unequivocal support for
the American-led campaign in
Iraq, had asked the Americans
for the official telegram.

The new pipeline would take oil
from the Kirkuk area, where some 40 percent of
Iraqi oil is produced, and transport it via
Mosul, and then across Jordan to Israel. The
U.S. telegram included a request for a cost
estimate for repairing the Mosul-Haifa pipeline
that was in use prior to 1948. During the War
of Independence, the Iraqis stopped the flow of
oil to Haifa and the pipeline fell into
disrepair over the years.
more....

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=332835&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

So much for the oil belonging to the people of Iraq. I guess maybe that this is one of the reasons people are bombing the pipelines?

I'm sure the US media will be reporting this all week.

[cthrumatrix]

1. Israel thinks it's a wonderful idea.....

"National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky
said yesterday that the port of Haifa is an
attractive destination for Iraqi oil and that
he plans to discuss this matter with the U.S.
secretary of energy during his planned visit to
Washington next month. Paritzky added that the
plan depends on Jordan's consent and that
Jordan would receive a transit fee for allowing
the oil to piped through its territory. The
minister noted, however, that "due to pan-Arab
concerns, it will be hard for the Jordanians to
agree to the flow of Iraqi oil via Jordan and
Israel."

[papau]

12. Will Syria give permission - or do we land grab or regime change?

[Wwagsthedog]

13. After consulting a more detailed map,...

...I think that the pipeline passes directly from Jordan into Israel. The area in question in Syria may be part of the Golan Heights which was annexed unilateraly by Israel. Also, the map above doesn't show the Sea of Galilee which is near the pipeline route.

All that aside, why are we so sure that the Jordanians will cooperate? Ahmed Chalabi, who is on the Iraqi "Governing Council", is a convicted felon in Jordan. There are probably more political problems (ie. Turks) than this one.

With no known maintenance for many years, the "pipeline" may be little more than a "right-of-way" today. Anyone familiar with the industry will tell you that pipelines, pump stations, etc., require lots of care.

My last point is something that has plagued the USA everywhere in Iraq. It will be very difficult to provide the kind of security needed to rebuild a pipeline let alone operate it. If all the problems noted are solved, it will be many years before a drop of crude flows to Haifa.

[papau]

14. Thanks for looking that up - Another reason not to "give up" Golan Heights

I agree re security and maintenance.

Should be interesting.

[starroute]

15. We already did that once

http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/380/388/tapline/

The Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company, a joint venture by Standard Oil of New Jersey (Esso), Standard Oil of California (Chevron), The Texas Company (Texaco) and Socony-Vacuum Oil Company (Mobil), was a major factor in economic development of Lebanon after independence and especially in the emergence of the south, Tapline was an important industrial adventure in global trade, the petroleum industry and American - Middle East politics.

<snip>

The pipeline was originally planned to run from Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil fields to the port of Haifa in Palestine where there already was a modest terminal facility for a pipeline from the Kirkuk oil fields in Iraq. The conflict between the British Mandate and the Israeli independence movement had the Tapline company serveying alternate routes already in 1946. These routes were all aimed at circumventing Palestine. "Trans-Jordan" appeared also at the time to be a country to be avoided. The final route went through Jordan, over the Golan Heights in Syria - and not without some political consequences - to end at Sidon in Lebanon.

Syrian parliamentary objections necessitated the CIA-aided 1949 coup in order to secure "right of way" over the Golan Heights. The end of pipeline operations were also instigated by sabotage and related problems with the portion passing over the Heights in the climate of political turmoil after the 1967 occupation by Israel. All oil transportation in the western (Syrian and Lebanese) portions of the line ceased in 1976.

[ComerPerro]

2. Thats really sick

Attention people of Iraq:
I know you are just incredibly happy about being liberated from the stranglehold that Saddam Hussein had on you. With that, I would just like to say:

GET BACK TO WORK!!!!!!!!!!

[caledesi]

3. Oh Yeah, and I am sure that the Iraqis are aware of

*'s Executive Order

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030522-15.html

[cthrumatrix]

6. I'm surprised the Dem candidates haven't raised this issue

maybe it's soo new....

I guess we can clearly see why Israel supported this invasion. And it seems we have such a poor time planning everthing else ...except what to do with thier oil.

[Julien Sorel]

4. What? You have got to be kidding me!

The Prime Minister's Office,
which views the pipeline to
Haifa as a "bonus" the U.S.
could give to Israel in return
for its unequivocal support for
the American-led campaign in
Iraq, had asked the Americans
for the official telegram.


'Bonus'??????????? We give those thugs billions of dollars a year in aid, and block every move to bring then under control by the UN, but now they want a bonus???????????????????? It's upside down. This is exactly why the Middle East is a mess. 'Why do they hate us?' Now you know.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. armageddon here we come

[flyingfish]

7. Are we that stupid or is this fiction?

Why don't we just tell Arabs when and where to attack us?
This has to be fiction.

[cthrumatrix]

10. Links are attached...read for yourself....and it's an Iraeli paper

so...now that it's not fiction...what do you think?

[Bozola]

8. As was pointed out back in February

"The United States has asked Israel to check the
possibility of pumping oil from Iraq to the oil
refineries in Haifa."


This was the real reason for the war; to provide Israel a stable source of oil.

[Mari333]

9. Way to win hearts and minds You Morons

[IndianaGreen]

11. Don't blame Israel for this neocon shit!

Israel always said that the real threat in the Persian Gulf was Iran and its very real nuclear program.

This sort of news is nothing but a recruiting call for terrorists everywhere, and it undermines American claims that the war had nothing to do with oil.

American troops will ultimately pay with their lives for the folly of Iraq!

[Cocoa]

16. what about the governing council?

Surely they'd be involved in a decision like this, but the article doesn't mention them. Odd...