Posted on 02/10/2003 8:39:05 PM PST by luv2ndamend
IRAQI President Saddam Hussein was moving large amounts of explosives to the country's oil fields, in apparent preparations to destroy them in the case of a US-led military invasion, NBC News has reported.
Citing unnamed military officials, the report said Iraqi companies had been purchasing the explosives and moving them to production areas in order, presumably, to set the fields ablaze.
The Iraqis tried to make it appear the explosives were necessary to aid oil exploration, according to NBC News.
But US intelligence officials believed the amount of the explosives far exceeded normal needs, the report said.
In the event of war, the US military would try to secure Iraqi oil fields early in the operation, according to NBC News. But it was unlikely it would be able to get to all 1500 Iraqi oil wells in time.
In 1991, retreating Iraqi troops blew up 730 oil wells in Kuwait, dealing a heavy blow to that country's economy. It took Kuwait eight months and $US40 billion ($67.97 billion) to put out the fires.
Spokesmen from the Defence Department and the Central Intelligence Agency would not comment on the report
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