The following video purports to show Iraqi oil smugglers digging up an underground pipeline, tapping into it, and then sucking up the overflowing oil. From the Musings on Iraq website: (Sources: Musings on Iraq, Youtube)
Archive | Security
Tags: smuggling
Weekly Security Update for 21st December 2011
Levels of violence fell in Iraq over the past week, with attacks concentrated in Mosul, Baghdad and Kirkuk. There was a scattering of incidents throughout the central provinces and a notable bombing attack on oil and gas infrastructure in Basrah province. Bomb attacks left at least 15 people dead and 77 injured, a decline from […]
Tags: AKE, Ba'ath, Basrah, Erbil News, Iraq, Kidnap, Maliki, Medical, Oil, Politics, Security, Tariq al-Hashimi, US military
Fake Dinar Gang Busted
Security forces in Sulaimaniyah City have detained two people on charges of forging Iraqi money, reports AKnews. The two men were arrested by the security forces with fake money and arms in their possession, after another man who had been detained the previous day on similar charges admitted the charges and identified the other two. The […]
Retired Army Major Jailed for Iraqi Money Laundering
A retired major in the U.S. Army was sentenced today to 24 months in prison for engaging in money laundering of criminally derived property totaling $400,000, which he received from a contractor following his deployment to Kuwait, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division. Charles Joseph Bowie Jr., 45, of Georgetown, […]
Tags: Corruption
Video: Iraq Museum Pays Smugglers for Looted Treasures
Iraq's second largest museum in Sulaimaniya is recovering stolen artifacts by paying smugglers to return the treasures, as CNN reports: (Source: CNN)
Rumaila Output Down following Attack, Exports not Affected
Oil production at Iraq's Rumaila oilfield has been cut from about 1.4 million barrels per day to by around 700,000 bpd after yesterday's a bomb attack on southern crude pipelines, according to Reuters. The fire that resulted raged all night but was put out on Wednesday morning. Salah Mohammad, general manager of the Rumaila Operating […]
Bombs Hit Iraqi Oil Pipeline
According to various sources, either two or three bombs hit a crude oil pipeline in Iraq's southern oilfields leading to storage tanks around Basra. The impact on oil production or exports was not immediately clear, but the deputy head of the Basra provincial council, Ahmed al-Sulaiti, said firefighters were still battling the fire late on […]
Tags: Attacks
Weekly Security Update for 13th December 2011
Levels of violence fell slightly in Iraq over the past week but conditions are still higher than most weeks in November. Incidents were concentrated in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, as well as southern Salah ad-Din province, western Diyala province and central Babil province. At least 35 separate bomb attacks left over 60 people dead and […]
Blackwater Plans to Re-Enter Iraq
ABC News reports that the private security firm once known as Blackwater, wants to re-enter the Iraqi market. The company was forced out of Iraq after a shooting incident in which 17 civilians died, and then changed its name to Xe Services in early 2009. It is now changing its name for the second time […]
Video: UN Special Representative on Security in Iraq
Informal comments to the media by Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, on the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI): (Source: United Nations) For more analysis on the current security situation please see today's report from our Expert Blogger John Drake.
Deterioration Ahead of the Pullout
Many are concerned that conditions could worsen in Iraq once the US military has withdrawn its forces from the country. Troops are required to leave by the end of the year and the pullout is already well underway. Hundreds of transport vehicles are currently snaking their way south towards the Kuwaiti border. Most of the […]
Iraq Improves Rank in Corruption Index
Iraq has improved its position in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index from 4th worst to joint 8th worst. This places it ahead of Somalia, North Korea, Burma (Myanmar), Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Sudan, and on a par with Haiti. The improvement is to praised, but being behind countries such as Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of […]