U.S. troops battling pirates, smugglers off Iraq’s coast

[TexasLawyer]

U.S. troops battling pirates, smugglers off Iraq’s coast

By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, October 24, 2006


ABOARD THE USS PHILIPPINE SEA —

<snip>

“Boredom is never a factor over here,” said Chief Petty Officer Dave Reiter, 30, an operations department sailor on board the USS Sirocco, one of several U.S. Navy ships conducting maritime security operations in the northern Persian Gulf.

<snip>

The oil pipelines in southern Iraq aren’t well-protected, and oil gets siphoned and put on fishing dhows to be sold on the black market.

“We board these fishing dhows and find there’s no fishing nets on board, just all these extra tanks for transporting fuel,” Lockwood said. “All we’ve been doing is kicking them out of Iraqi water. We’ve kicked out three in the last two weeks.

“We’d like to get the Iraqi law enforcement agencies to work on this, but the insurgency is such in Iraq that many are concerned if they take on these big, organized oil smuggling rings, there will be retribution,” he said.

<snip>

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=40969

[derby378]

1. Ahhrrrr!

Shiver me timbers!

[Xipe Totec]

3. Avast, ye scurvy dogs!

prepare for a hostile takeover!

[TexasLawyer]

2. This makes me worry about pipeline sabotage

Unprotected pipelines that can be siphoned are ALSO

unprotected pipelines that can be blown up!

[aquart]

7. Well, yeah.

It really was the height of delusion to believe we were ever going to be allowed to keep that oil. How many times have they exploded those pipes?

American arrogance. It's legendary.

[lonestarnot]

4. 15 men on a dead man's chest yohoho and a bottle of rum.

aaaarrrrrrrrg.

[Xipe Totec]

5. and a barrel of oil.... n/t

[lonestarnot]

6. Proper addendum yes.

[Shipwack]

8. Actually, the pirates and smugglers are 2 different issues....

The pirates don't siphon or smuggle oil... those are, well... smugglers. The pirates prey upon the fishing boats and small cargo dhows. They'll board, threaten the crew, and rob the ships cash fund and the people on board. The crew don't put up any resistance because they are hired hands (the owner is often on land), and poorly paid ones at that.

Anti-piracy ops are a major concern of the Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Arabian (Persian)Gulf, but it's a large body of water to cover.

I used to work in a operations center in Bahrain, and I'd see a couple of piracy reports a night.