[casi-analysis] casi-news digest, Vol 1 #34 - 5 msgs

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Today's Topics:

   1. BBC E-mail: Glimmer of hope for Iraqi economy (Martin Gemzell)
   2. WHO 'Suppressed' DU Iraq Report (farbuthnot)
   3. Oil from Israel contracted for sale to Iraq (Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar)
   4. Robert Fisk: Eyewitness in Iraq: (Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar)
   5. Israeli firm awarded oil tender in Iraq (Rania Masri)

--__--__--

Message: 1
To: newsclippings@casi.org.uk
From: Martin Gemzell <18166@DELETETHISstudent.hhs.se>
Subject: BBC E-mail: Glimmer of hope for Iraqi economy
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:53:18 +0000

Martin Gemzell saw this story on BBC News Online and thought you
should see it.



** Glimmer of hope for Iraqi economy **
The BBC's Mark Gregory finds the first stirrings of economic recovery in Iraq - despite serious 
security threats.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/business/3507423.stm >


** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want - when you want them, all
in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/dailyemail/ >


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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:22:37 +0000
Subject: WHO 'Suppressed' DU Iraq Report
From: "farbuthnot" <asceptic@DELETETHISfreenetname.co.uk>
To: casI-analysis@lists.casi.org.uk


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]

Printer Friendly Version  E-Mail This Article  =A0
=A0Published on Sunday, February 22, 2004 by The Sunday Herald (Scotland)
WHO =8CSuppressed=B9 Scientific Study Into Depleted Uranium Cancer Fears in=
 Iraq
Radiation experts warn in unpublished report that DU weapons used by Allies
in Gulf war pose long-term health risk

by Rob Edwards
=A0
An expert report warning that the long-term health of Iraq's civilian
population would be endangered by British and US depleted uranium (DU)
weapons has been kept secret.
The study by three leading radiation scientists cautioned that children and
adults could contract cancer after breathing in dust containing DU, which i=
s
radioactive and chemically toxic. But it was blocked from publication by th=
e
World Health Organization (WHO), which employed the main author, Dr Keith
Baverstock, as a senior radiation advisor. He alleges that it was
deliberately suppressed, though this is denied by WHO.
Baverstock also believes that if the study had been published when it was
completed in 2001, there would have been more pressure on the US and UK to
limit their use of DU weapons in last year's war, and to clean up
afterwards.
Hundreds of thousands of DU shells were fired by coalition tanks and planes
during the conflict, and there has been no comprehensive decontamination.
Experts from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have so far not
been allowed into Iraq to assess the pollution.
"Our study suggests that the widespread use of depleted uranium weapons in
Iraq could pose a unique health hazard to the civilian population,"
Baverstock told the Sunday Herald.
"There is increasing scientific evidence the radioactivity and the chemical
toxicity of DU could cause more damage to human cells than is assumed."
Baverstock was the WHO's top expert on radiation and health for 11 years
until he retired in May last year. He now works with the Department of
Environmental Sciences at the University of Kuopio in Finland, and was
recently appointed to the UK government's newly formed Committee on Radio
active Waste Management.
While he was a member of staff, WHO refused to give him permission to
publish the study, which was co-authored by Professor Carmel Mothersill fro=
m
McMaster University in Canada and Dr Mike Thorne, a radiation consultant .
Baverstock suspects that WHO was leaned on by a more powerful pro-nuclear U=
N
body, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"I believe our study was censored and suppressed by the WHO because they
didn't like its conclusions. Previous experience suggests that WHO official=
s
were bowing to pressure from the IAEA, whose remit is to promote nuclear
power," he said. "That is more than unfortunate, as publishing the study
would have helped forewarn the authorities of the risks of using DU weapons
in Iraq."
These allegations, however, are dismissed as "totally unfounded" by WHO.
"The IAEA role was very minor," said Dr Mike Repacholi, the WHO coordinator
of radiation and environmental health in Geneva. "The article was not
approved for publication because parts of it did not reflect accurately wha=
t
a WHO-convened group of inter national experts considered the best science
in the area of depleted uranium," he added.
Baverstock's study, which has now been passed to the Sunday Herald, pointed
out that Iraq's arid climate meant that tiny particles of DU were likely to
be blown around and inhaled by civilians for years to come. It warned that,
when inside the body, their radiation and toxicity could trigger the growth
of malignant tumors.
The study suggested that the low-level radiation from DU could harm cells
adjacent to those that are directly irradiated, a phenomenon known as "the
bystander effect". This undermines the stability of the body's genetic
system, and is thought by many scientists to be linked to cancers and
possibly other illnesses.
In addition, the DU in Iraq, like that used in the Balkan conflict, could
turn out to be contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive waste .
That would make it more radioactive and hence more dangerous, Baverstock
argued.
"The radiation and the chemical toxicity of DU could also act together to
create a 'cocktail effect' that further increases the risk of cancer. These
are all worrying possibilities that urgently require more investigation," h=
e
said.
Baverstock's anxiety about the health effects of DU in Iraq is shared by
Pekka Haavisto, the chairman of the UN Environment Program's Post-Conflict
Assessment Unit in Geneva. "It is certainly a concern in Iraq, there is no
doubt about that," he said.
UNEP, which surveyed DU contamination in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2002, is
keen to get into Iraq to monitor the situation as soon as possible. It has
been told by the British government that about 1.9 tonnes of DU was fired
from tanks around Basra, but has no information from US forces, which are
bound to have used a lot more.
Haavisto's greatest worry is when buildings hit by DU shells have been
repaired and reoccupied without having been properly cleaned up.
Photographic evidence suggests that this is exactly what has happened to th=
e
ministry of planning building in Baghdad.
He also highlighted evidence that DU from weapons had been collected and
recycled as scrap in Iraq. "It could end up in a fork or a knife," he
warned.
"It is ridiculous to leave the material lying around and not to clear it up
where adults are working and children are playing. If DU is not taken care
of, instead of decreasing the risk you are increasing it. It is absolutely
wrong."
=A9 newsquest (sunday herald) limited




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Message: 3
From: "Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar" <ghazwan_almukhtar@DELETETHIShotmail.com>
To: <newsclippings@casi.org.uk>
Subject: Oil from Israel contracted for sale to Iraq
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 19:45:35 +0300


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]

I am sure that the "Iraqi" factions that advocated the change of government=
 in Iraq are happy to know that the country with the second largest oil res=
ave, a country that used to export 200000 gallons of diesel fuel to Turkey =
are now importing oil from a non-oil producing "Israel". This prove the nat=
ure of the IGC! nothing less than "Israeli" agents.

Ghazwan



http://www.dailystar.com.lb/business/26_02_04_h.asp

Oil from Israel contracted for sale to Iraq
Iason Athanasiadis
Special to the Daily Star

ATHENS: An Israeli oil firm has surprised the Arab world by winning a lucra=
tive contract to supply the US Army in Iraq with oil.
Israel's Sonol Fuel Company, a subsidiary of Granite Hacarmel, will supply =
US forces in Iraq with fuel through a partnership with an unnamed Jordanian=
 firm, according to Kuwaiti petroleum sources speaking to The Daily Star.
The Israeli-Jordanian partnership will supply the US Army in north Iraq wit=
h some 34,000 metric tons of fuel each month, according to reports.
Daily Star sources say shipments have been delivered for the past two weeks=
. They are being transported across Israel and Jordan by railway and into I=
raq.
Industry experts are baffled as to why Israel has been chosen for the deal =
when Turkey supplied northern Iraq with around 300,000 metric tons of gas o=
ver the course of six months in 2003.
Press reports have said that Sonol is working in conjunction with an intern=
ational firm, said to be Morgantown International. They put the value of th=
e deal at $70-80 million.
Officials at Sonol and Kellogg, Brown & Root did not immediately respond to=
 requests for comment. Repeated requests for an interview to Sonol were ref=
erred to Fleisher Communications, a company handling Sonol's media relation=
s.
"The formal comment is that we cannot comment about it and are giving out n=
o details," a spokeswoman said.
The tender was issued by the US-based KBR Company, a subsidiary of Hallibur=
ton, that has been entrusted with the majority of contracts for the US troo=
ps in Iraq. Among Sonol's competitors was Delek, another Israeli company.
According to press reports, imported fuel will pass through the fuel termin=
al operated by Tashan, an oil and energy infrastructure firm, in the north =
of the Israeli desert city of Beer Sheva.
Arab oil analysts speaking to The Daily Star said it does not make economic=
 sense to award Israel the contract as it is not an oil-exporting country. =
This means that Sonol will be acting as a go-between, forwarding gas to Ira=
q at a profit and driving the value of the contract higher for KBR. The con=
troversial US firm has already been charged with overcharging the US Army.
"The oil could come from Egypt, could be from Russia, could be Azerbaijan,"=
 said Walid Khadduri, editor of the Cyprus-based Middle East Economic Surve=
y. "Israel imports all its oil, it doesn't have any."
While it would have made better financial sense for the contract to be awar=
ded to companies operating in gasoline-refining countries adjoining norther=
n Iraq such as Syria, Iran or Turkey, political sensitivities may have kept=
 Halliburton from considering them.
"State Oil Marketing Organisation imports products from Syria and Iran," sa=
id Khadduri. "Halliburton does not do so because the administration does no=
t want to assist Syria or Iran."
"At the end of the day, Israel is buying from the market and doesn't produc=
e, so it needs to make its profit from somewhere," said Mohammad al-Shatti,=
 the manager of markets research at Kuwait's Petroleum Ministry. "For examp=
le, all our gas for the domestic market is imported from outside of Kuwait,=
 at extra cost. Of course it should not be done as you're talking about the=
 Arab world."
The Maariv daily ran the news with the subtitle: Israel has yet to sell coa=
ls to Newcastle, but sending oil to Iraq comes close.
"The entry of Israeli firms in Iraq will cause further complications to the=
 Americans and there will be popular reactions against this action," said S=
yrian economist Samir Seifan. "If the Americans try to arrange this without=
 taking into consideration the feelings of the people and Arab interests, t=
hey will be giving Israel an extra gift without returning to Arabs any of t=
heir rights." Syria, considered by the Bush administration an enemy alongsi=
de Iran, has lost up to $3 billion annually in bilateral trade with Iraq si=
nce the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Sonol will most likely be providing the US Army with gas imported from the =
EU, a net exporter. The company snapped up 130,000 tons of Azerbaijani crud=
e oil in February and is talking of building an oil refinery in southern Is=
rael's Arava region that adjoins Jordan, said Israel's Maariv paper. A spok=
eswoman for Sonol denied this report.
Problems with rehabilitating Iraq's oil network have left US officials and =
private contractors with the task of importing oil into a country that hold=
s between 12-20 percent of the world's oil reserves.
Continuing sabotage strikes against Iraq's oil infrastructure have crippled=
 the country's export capability. Until now, US forces have received most o=
f their fuel from Kuwait. However, the US Army decided to explore other opt=
ions, following Halliburton's admission that it had overcharged the US mili=
tary. Whereas Sonol's deal relates to northern Iraq and is not a replacemen=
t of the Kuwaiti contract, a tender for the south of the country will be su=
bmitted on March 8 with the contract starting in April.
Sonol is among Israel's three largest oil product marketing firms and boast=
s a network of over 200 service stations.
Israeli companies have been seeking to make inroads into Iraq's potentially=
 lucrative market in recent months. But despite isolated cases where Israel=
's retail sector has been successful, Israel is more likely to covertly pro=
mote its hi-tech products. Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority awarded a=
 contract worth $4-5 million to Iridium Israel for mobile satellite communi=
cation services.


--__--__--

Message: 4
From: "Ghazwan Al-Mukhtar" <ghazwan_almukhtar@DELETETHIShotmail.com>
To: <newsclippings@casi.org.uk>
Subject: Robert Fisk: Eyewitness in Iraq:
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 22:26:49 +0300


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5087.htm

Robert Fisk: Eyewitness in Iraq:

'They're getting better,' Chuck said approvingly. 'That one hit the runway'

Robert Fisk

10/26/03: (The Independent - United Kingdom) Baghdad, Iraq: I was in the po=
lice station in the town of Fallujah when I realised the extent of the schi=
zophrenia. Captain Christopher Cirino of the 82nd Airborne was trying to ex=
plain to me the nature of the attacks so regularly carried out against Amer=
ican forces in the Sunni Muslim Iraqi town. His men were billeted in a form=
er presidential rest home down the road - "Dreamland", the Americans call i=
t - but this was not the extent of his soldiers' disorientation. "The men w=
e are being attacked by," he said, "are Syrian-trained terrorists and local=
 freedom fighters." Come again? "Freedom fighters." But that's what Captain=
 Cirino called them - and rightly so.

Here's the reason. All American soldiers are supposed to believe - indeed h=
ave to believe, along with their President and his Defence Secretary, Donal=
d Rumsfeld - that Osama bin Laden's "al-Qa'ida" guerrillas, pouring over Ir=
aq's borders from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia (note how those close allies an=
d neighbours of Iraq, Kuwait and Turkey are always left out of the equation=
), are assaulting United States forces as part of the "war on terror". Spec=
ial forces soldiers are now being told by their officers that the "war on t=
error" has been transferred from America to Iraq, as if in some miraculous =
way, 11 September 2001 is now Iraq 2003. Note too how the Americans always =
leave the Iraqis out of the culpability bracket - unless they can be descri=
bed as "Baath party remnants", "diehards" or "deadenders" by the US procons=
ul, Paul Bremer.


Captain Cirino's problem, of course, is that he knows part of the truth. Or=
dinary Iraqis - many of them long-term enemies of Saddam Hussein - are atta=
cking the American occupation army 35 times a day in the Baghdad area alone=
. And Captain Cirino works in Fallujah's local police station, where Americ=
a's newly hired Iraqi policemen are the brothers and uncles and - no doubt =
- fathers of some of those now waging guerrilla war against American soldie=
rs in Fallujah. Some of them, I suspect, are indeed themselves the "terrori=
sts". So if he calls the bad guys "terrorists", the local cops - his first =
line of defence - would be very angry indeed.

No wonder morale is low. No wonder the American soldiers I meet on the stre=
ets of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities don't mince their words about their o=
wn government. US troops have been given orders not to bad-mouth their Pres=
ident or Secretary of Defence in front of Iraqis or reporters (who have abo=
ut the same status in the eyes of the occupation authorities). But when I s=
uggested to a group of US military police near Abu Ghurayb they would be vo=
ting Republican at the next election, they fell about laughing. "We shouldn=
't be here and we should never have been sent here," one of them told me wi=
th astonishing candour. "And maybe you can tell me: why were we sent here?"

Little wonder, then, that Stars and Stripes, the American military's own ne=
wspaper, reported this month that one third of the soldiers in Iraq suffere=
d from low morale. And is it any wonder, that being the case, that US force=
s in Iraq are shooting down the innocent, kicking and brutalising prisoners=
, trashing homes and - eyewitness testimony is coming from hundreds of Iraq=
is - stealing money from houses they are raiding? No, this is not Vietnam -=
 where the Americans sometimes lost 3,000 men in a month - nor is the US ar=
my in Iraq turning into a rabble. Not yet. And they remain light years away=
 from the butchery of Saddam's henchmen. But human-rights monitors, civilia=
n occupation officials and journalists - not to mention Iraqis themselves -=
 are increasingly appalled at the behaviour of the American military occupi=
ers.

Iraqis who fail to see US military checkpoints, who overtake convoys under =
attack - or who merely pass the scene of an American raid - are being gunne=
d down with abandon. US official "inquiries" into these killings routinely =
result in either silence or claims that the soldiers "obeyed their rules of=
 engagement" - rules that the Americans will not disclose to the public.

The rot comes from the top. Even during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq=
, US forces declined to take responsibility for the innocents they killed. =
"We do not do body counts," General Tommy Franks announced. So there was no=
 apology for the 16 civilians killed at Mansur when the "Allies" - note how=
 we Brits get caught up in this misleading title - bombed a residential sub=
urb in the vain hope of killing Saddam. When US special forces raided a hou=
se in the very same area four months later - hunting for the very same Iraq=
i leader - they killed six civilians, including a 14-year-old boy and a mid=
dle-aged woman, and only announced, four days later, that they would hold a=
n "inquiry". Not an investigation, you understand, nothing that would sugge=
st there was anything wrong in gunning down six Iraqi civilians; and in due=
 course the "inquiry" was forgotten - as it was no doubt meant to be - and =
nothing has been heard of it again.

Again, during the invasion, the Americans dropped hundreds of cluster bombs=
 on villages outside the town of Hillah. They left behind a butcher's shop =
of chopped-up corpses. Film of babies cut in half during the raid was not e=
ven transmitted by the Reuters crew in Baghdad. The Pentagon then said ther=
e were "no indications" cluster bombs had been dropped at Hillah - even tho=
ugh Sky TV found some unexploded and brought them back to Baghdad.

I first came across this absence of remorse - or rather absence of responsi=
bility - in a slum suburb of Baghdad called Hayy al-Gailani. Two men had ru=
n a new American checkpoint - a roll of barbed wire tossed across a road be=
fore dawn one morning in July - and US troops had opened fire at the car. I=
ndeed, they fired so many bullets that the vehicle burst into flames. And w=
hile the dead or dying men were burned inside, the Americans who had set up=
 the checkpoint simply boarded their armoured vehicles and left the scene. =
They never even bothered to visit the hospital mortuary to find out the ide=
ntities of the men they killed - an obvious step if they believed they had =
killed "terrorists" - and inform their relatives. Scenes like this are bein=
g repeated across Iraq daily.

Which is why Human Rights Watch and Amnesty and other humanitarian organisa=
tions are protesting ever more vigorously about the failure of the US army =
even to count the numbers of Iraqi dead, let alone account for their own ro=
le in killing civilians. "It is a tragedy that US soldiers have killed so m=
any civilians in Baghdad," Human Rights Watch's Joe Stork said. "But it is =
really incredible that the US military does not even count these deaths." H=
uman Rights Watch has counted 94 Iraqi civilians killed by Americans in the=
 capital. The organisation also criticised American forces for humiliating =
prisoners, not least by their habit of placing their feet on the heads of p=
risoners. Some American soldiers are now being trained in Jordan - by Jorda=
nians - in the "respect" that should be accorded to Iraqi civilians and abo=
ut the culture of Islam. About time.

But on the ground in Iraq, Americans have a licence to kill. Not a single s=
oldier has been disciplined for shooting civilians - even when the fatality=
 involves an Iraqi working for the occupation authorities. No action has be=
en taken, for instance, over the soldier who fired a single shot through th=
e window of an Italian diplomat's car, killing his translator, in northern =
Iraq. Nor against the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne who gunned down 14 Sunn=
i Muslim protesters in Fallujah in April. (Captain Cirino was not involved.=
) Nor against the troops who shot dead 11 more protesters in Mosul. Sometim=
es, the evidence of low morale mounts over a long period. In one Iraqi city=
, for example, the "Coalition Provisional Authority" - which is what the oc=
cupation authorities call themselves - have instructed local money changers=
 not to give dollars for Iraqi dinars to occupation soldiers: too many Iraq=
i dinars had been stolen by troops during house raids. Repeatedly, in Baghd=
ad, Hillah, Tikrit, Mosul and Fallujah Iraqis have told me that they were r=
obbed by American troops during raids and at checkpoints. Unless there is a=
 monumental conspiracy on a nationwide scale by Iraqis, some of these repor=
ts must bear the stamp of truth.

Then there was the case of the Bengal tiger. A group of US troops entered t=
he Baghdad zoo one evening for a party of sandwiches and beer. During the p=
arty, one of the soldiers decided to pet the tiger who - being a Bengal tig=
er - sank his teeth into the soldier. The Americans then shot the tiger dea=
d. The Americans promised an "inquiry" - of which nothing has been heard si=
nce. Ironically, the one incident where US forces faced disciplinary action=
 followed an incident in which a US helicopter crew took a black religious =
flag from a communications tower in Sadr City in Baghdad. The violence that=
 followed cost the life of an Iraqi civilian.

Suicides among US troops in Iraq have risen in recent months - up to three =
times the usual rate among American servicemen. At least 23 soldiers are be=
lieved to have taken their lives since the Anglo-American invasion and othe=
rs have been wounded in attempting suicide. As usual, the US army only reve=
aled this statistic following constant questioning. The daily attacks on Am=
ericans outside Baghdad - up to 50 in a night - go, like the civilian Iraqi=
 dead, unrecorded. Travelling back from Fallujah to Baghdad after dark last=
 month, I saw mortar explosions and tracer fire around 13 American bases - =
not a word of which was later revealed by the occupation authorities. At Ba=
ghdad airport last month, five mortar shells fell near the runway as a Jord=
anian airliner was boarding passengers for Amman. I saw this attack with my=
 own eyes. That same afternoon, General Ricardo Sanchez, the senior US offi=
cer in Iraq, claimed he knew nothing about the attack, which - unless his j=
unior officers are slovenly - he must have been well aware of.

But can we expect anything else of an army that can wilfully mislead soldie=
rs into writing "letters" to their home town papers in the US about improve=
ments in Iraqi daily life.

"The quality of life and security for the citizens has been largely restore=
d, and we are a large part of why it has happened," Sergeant Christopher Sh=
elton of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment bragged in a letter from Kirk=
uk to the Snohomish County Tribune. "The majority of the city has welcomed =
our presence with open arms." Only it hasn't. And Sergeant Shelton didn't w=
rite the letter. Nor did Sergeant Shawn Grueser of West Virginia. Nor did P=
rivate Nick Deaconson. Nor eight other soldiers who supposedly wrote identi=
cal letters to their local papers. The "letters" were distributed among sol=
diers, who were asked to sign if they agreed with its contents.

But is this, perhaps, not part of the fantasy world inspired by the right-w=
ing ideologues in Washington who sought this war - even though most of them=
 have never served their country in uniform. They dreamed up the "weapons o=
f mass destruction" and the adulation of American troops who would "liberat=
e" the Iraqi people. Unable to provide fact to fiction, they now merely ack=
nowledge that the soldiers they have sent into the biggest rat's nest in th=
e Middle East have "a lot of work to do", that they are - this was not reve=
aled before or during the invasion - "fighting the front line in the war on=
 terror".

What influence, one might ask, have the Christian fundamentalists had on th=
e American army in Iraq? For even if we ignore the Rev Franklin Graham, who=
 has described Islam as "a very evil and wicked religion" before he went to=
 lecture Pentagon officials - what is one to make of the officer responsibl=
e for tracking down Osama bin Laden, Lieutenant-General William "Jerry" Boy=
kin, who told an audience in Oregon that Islamists hate the US "because we'=
re a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Chris=
tian and the enemy is a guy called Satan". Recently promoted to deputy unde=
r-secretary of defence for intelligence, Boykin went on to say of the war a=
gainst Mohammed Farrah Aidid in Somalia - in which he participated - that "=
I knew my God was bigger than his - I knew that my God was a real God and h=
is was an idol".

Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld said of these extraordinary remarks th=
at "it doesn't look like any rules were broken". We are now told that an "i=
nquiry" into Boykin's comments is underway - an "inquiry" about as thorough=
, no doubt, as those held into the killing of civilians in Baghdad.

Weaned on this kind of nonsense, however, is it any surprise that American =
troops in Iraq understand neither their war nor the people whose country th=
ey are occupying? Terrorists or freedom fighters? What's the difference?

Copyright: The Independent


--__--__--

Message: 5
From: "Rania Masri" <rania@DELETETHISnc.rr.com>
To: <rania@nc.rr.com>
Subject: Israeli firm awarded oil tender in Iraq
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 17:00:13 -0500


[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]

Israeli firm awarded oil tender in Iraq
by Al Jazeera
Wednesday 25 February 2004 1:44 PM GMT





The company will supply 25 million litres of fuel a month

One of Israel's largest oil marketing firms has won a multi-million dollar
tender to supply fuel to US troops in Iraq.

According to a IsraelNationalNews.com report, the tender awarded to Sonol
gasoline company, along with its foreign partner Morgantown International,
is valued at $70-80 million.

The company is expected to supply the US forces with 25 million litres of
fuel each month.

The tender was issued by the US-based KDR Company, a subsidiary of
Halliburton, which has been entrusted with the majority of US military
contracts in Iraq. Among Sonol's competitors was Delek, another Israeli
company, the report added.

Until now, the US forces have received most of their fuel from Kuwait.
However, following Halliburton's admission that it overcharged the US
military by passing on the Kuwaitis' inflated price, the US Army decided to
approach other suppliers.

Sonol is one of Israel's three largest oil product marketing firms with a
network of about 205 branded service stations.

Fuel, imported to Israel, will pass through the fuel terminal operated by
the TASHAN (Oil and Energy Infrastructure Company) north of Beer Sheva and
will then be transported to Iraq by land through Jordan, according to the
report.

Not much oil





A pipeline linking Mosul to Haifa
is to be reopened

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a statistical
agency of the US Department of Energy, Israel produces almost no oil and
imports nearly all its oil needs (around 237,000 barrels a day in 2002).
Traditionally, major oil import sources have included Egypt, the North Sea,
West Africa and Mexico.

In recent years, however, Israel has stepped up its imports from Russia and
the Caspian region and now reportedly gets most of its oil from former
Soviet states.

Information provided by the EIA states that in April 2003, there was some
discussion of "reopening" the old oil pipeline from Mosul in Northern Iraq
to the Israeli port of Haifa on its northern Mediterranean coast.

The line, which was built in the 1930s, carried 100,000 barrels a day at its
peak, but has been closed since Israel's establishment in 1948.

Pipeline

The reopening of this pipeline is, on the other hand, reported as being able
to "solve Israel's energy crisis at a stroke".


'After all, this is a new world order now. This is what things look like
particularly if we wipe out Syria. It just goes to show that it is all about
oil, for the United States and its ally'

James Akins,
a former US ambassador to
the Middle East region

According to a report in The Observer in April 2003, plans to build a
pipeline from newly conquered Iraq were being discussed between Washington,
Tel Aviv and potential future government figures in Baghdad.

US intelligence sources confirmed to The Observer that the project had been
discussed. One former senior CIA official said: ''It has long been a dream
of a powerful section of the people now driving this administration [of
President George Bush] and the war in Iraq to safeguard Israel's energy
supply as well as that of the United States.

Transit rights

James Akins, a former US ambassador to the region, quoted by The Observer
said: "There would be a fee for transit rights through Jordan, just as there
would be fees for Israel from those using what would be the Haifa terminal",
according to the paper.

''After all, this is a new world order now. This is what things look like
particularly if we wipe out Syria. It just goes to show that it is all about
oil, for the United States and its ally.''

Aljazeera
By

You can find this article at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/14002292-509C-4896-951D-DAE550DFB88F.
htm




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