Saboteurs Blow Up Key Iraqi Pipeline

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saboteurs blew up a key northern oil pipeline Wednesday, forcing a 10 percent cut on the national power grid as demand for electricity rises with the advent of Iraq's broiling summer heat.

Meanwhile, clashes persisted Wednesday around Fallujah, a rebellious Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad. Four members of an Iraqi force in charge of the city since April were wounded when a mortar round exploded. 1st Lt. Amer Jassim speculated the attackers were firing at Americans but missed.

The pipeline blast near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad, was the latest in a series of attacks by insurgents against infrastructure targets, possibly to shake public confidence as a new Iraqi government prepares to take power June 30.

The attack on the pipeline — which carries fuel to the Beiji power station, one of Iraq's largest — forced a 10 percent cutback in the country's 4,000-megawatt production, Assem Jihad, an Oil Ministry spokesman, told Dow Jones Newswires.

The U.S.-run coalition had made its ability to guarantee adequate electricity supplies a benchmark of success in restoring normalcy to Iraq. However, sabotage and frayed infrastructure have impeded efforts to eliminate power outages, especially in the capital.

More than a year after the occupation began, power cuts are common nationwide, in some places topping 16 hours a day. Demand is rising with the advent of summer, with temperatures already topping 100 degrees.

Elsewhere, Polish authorities said an explosion that killed six European soldiers — two Poles, three Slovaks and one Latvian — south of Baghdad on Tuesday was caused by a mortar attack rather than an accident as first reported.

Gen. Piotr Czerwinski, the head of a special investigating commission, said he suspected that Saddam Hussein loyalists were responsible for the deaths — the first in Iraq for the small Slovak and Latvian contingents.

U.S. and other multinational forces will remain in Iraq after the new government takes power at the end of the month under terms of a resolution approved unanimously Tuesday by the U.N. Security Council.

Prime Minister Iyad Allawi described the vote as a victory for Iraq because it declares an end to the military presence when a constitutionally elected government takes power in 2006 — or before, if the Iraqi government requests it.

"The resolution is very clear that once Iraq stands on its feet, then we would ask the multinational forces to leave Iraq," Allawi said. "This is ... an entirely a government issue."

In Rome, three Italians returned home Wednesday, a day after they and a Polish hostage were freed by coalition forces. Kidnappers had held the Italians for two months.

"We're home, we're home," shouted Maurizio Agliana, a towering, burly man who gave the thumbs-up sign after embracing his sister on the tarmac of Ciampino airport.

Foreign Ministry official Alessandro Cevese said the hostages were not beaten but had been made to sleep on the floor, and were twice held for several days in a bathroom measuring 6.5 feet by 6.5 feet.

One of the hostages, Salvatore Stefio, challenged a captor who ordered him to take off his wedding band, declaring: "Well, then shoot me," Cevese said. Stefio was eventually forced to give up the ring.

The men did not know that a fourth hostage abducted with them, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, had been executed, Cevese said.

Quattrocchi may have been killed "because he was identified as someone close to the American structure, since he had a pass released by the CPA," the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority that governs Iraq.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the senior U.S. officer in Iraq, said the men were freed south of Baghdad. However, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said they were found in Ramadi, a hotbed of the Sunni Muslim insurgency 75 miles west of Baghdad.

At the G-8 summit in Sea Island, Ga., President Bush said he envisions a wider role for NATO (news - web sites) in the volatile country. Fifteen NATO countries have troops in Iraq.

"We believe NATO ought to be involved," Bush said. "We will work with our NATO friends to at least continue the role that now exists, and hopefully expand it somewhat."

Last year, NATO took over the 6,400-strong international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

_ A group holding two hostages — a Turk and an Egyptian — threatened to kill the captives after Friday prayers unless their home governments condemn U.S. actions in Iraq. The threat was made in a statement distributed in Fallujah.

_ Insurgents attacked a Baghdad city council member Tuesday, wounding him and killing two of his bodyguards, the military said.

The people of Iraq must all be motivated to support their new government. This can best be done by giving them a real financial interest in their country's oil resources as outlined in the folowing proposal of the LAS AMERICAS COMPANIES:

A Proposal : IRAQI CITIZENS’ OIL FUND

The following proposal submitted by the LAS AMERICAS COMPANIES is designed to win the minds and hearts of the Iraqi people through the annual distribution of a share of their nation’s oil resources. This is not a new idea, but rather one derived from the successful experience of the State of Alaska, which annually distributes a portion of the state’s’ income from oil production directly to its citizens. It stands to reason that Iraqis will vote their support of a government proposing to make each citizen a true partner in sharing the country’s oil riches.

1. The Alaska Permanent Fund

In 1976, voters in Alaska approved a constitutional amendment creating the Alaska Permanent Fund. It required that at least 25 percent of all mineral lease bonuses, royalties, and rentals be deposited in a fund used only for income-producing investments. At the urging of REPUBLICAN Governor Jay S. Hammond (1974-82), the state legislature enacted into law the innovative concept of establishing a permanent fund to distribute part of the state’s oil earnings directly to Alaska citizens as dividends.

The Alaska Permanent Fund is a case study in a new concept of the role of government - that of agent to equitably distribute resource rents to its citizens, thereby providing them with common heritage rights to land and natural resources.

After a court challenge, the Alaska legislature implemented the plan in early 1982. The Fund originally provided that any adult who had lived in Alaska at least six months was to receive dividends of $1,000. For future years, it promised annual dividends based on distribution of half the earnings of the permanent fund in any given year.

Alaska citizens who received a total of $18, 511 in dividends each year from 1982 - 2000. There were 582,105 citizens who received a total of $1,143,172,725 in dividends in the year 2000, which amounted to an individual dividend of $1963 per person. The Alaska Permanent Fund dividend payment in 2002 was $1540 per recipient, and $1107 in 2003. These payments provided an annual income of approximately $8,000 per household across the state.

Overall, the dividend program has dispersed more than $10 billion into the Alaskan economy. The principle of the Fund currently exceeds $26 billion. The Alaska Fund is the first to recognize the full rights of citizens to share directly in the income from public assets.

2. Proposed Iraqi Citizens' Oil Fund-

In 2004, Iraq's oil revenues, which have reached over $9 billion through April, are projected to total $15-20 billion (US), up from approximately $5 billion (US) in 2003. These revenues are expected to increase in successive years.

As in Alaska, an Iraqi Citizens' Oil Fund for the direct benefit of all citizens could be established by the new government. Citizens seeing the prospect of receiving money from their government, rather than paying money to it, are much more likely to be willing and enthusiastic supporters of the new authority.

Fortunately, Iraq has significant oil resources, which can be used to benefit all Iraqis. Currently, Iraq's per capita gross domestic product is $2,500. Under the prior government, average individual annual income was estimated to be less than $60 (US).

This proposal would give each Iraqi citizen a true stake in the economic foundation of newly established country. Each citizen could become a direct partner in Iraq’s economic and political future.

The Iraqi Citizen's Oil Fund would require that the principle of individual ownership be a primary hallmark of the new government. Citizens who are guaranteed economic power by the government will naturally support the newly established system. And, citizen-owners will be highly motivated to join together to devote their efforts to building their country’s future stability and prosperity.

The architects of the new Iraq have the power to replace the former government monopoly over natural resources with the Citizens’ Oil Fund providing all Iraqis a direct ownership stake in their country’s most valuable resource. Such a plan is in the best interest of Iraq and all Iraqis.

LAS AMERICAS COMPANIES 515 Madison Avenue Suite 2306 New York, New York Tel: 718-784-7786 Email: lasamericasinfo@email.com

Hector Llorens,Managing Director

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