Iraqi insurgents attack oil infrastructure to sow chaos: report

Singapore (Platts)--16Feb2006

Oil appears to play only a tangential role in the military campaigns of
Iraqi insurgent groups in that country, according to a report released
Wednesday by the International Crisis Group.
     According to the ICG report, "In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi
Insurgency," the primary role oil appears to play in insurgent military
strategy is as a lever to undermine local normalization under the elected
government.
     As insurgents see it, a core US objective is to install a government
which can both rule and establish a sense of normalcy. "Attacks against
national infrastructure ... are justified as necessary to pre-empt that
outcome," the report said.
     "While the armed groups deny any intent of depriving the population of
water or electricity, restraint does not apply to oil installations, which are
seen as part and parcel of American designs to exploit Iraq. [The insurgent
group] Jaysh Ansar al-Sunna in particular openly takes credit for recurring
operations against oil pipelines and other infrastructure around Kirkuk."
     Among six recommendations the report makes to the US in its campaign
against the insurgency is to "make clear repeatedly and at the highest level
that it accepts that the oil resources of the country belong to the Iraqi
people and no one else."
     The report is based on a study of insurgent communications -- mainly web
sites, chat rooms, leaflets, magazines and videos -- from mid-2003 through
January 2006.
     The International Crisis Group is an international non-profit,
non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly
conflicts through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy.
    The group is currently chaired by former British politician Chris Patten.
--Mike Kobal, michael_kobal@platts.com

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