Iraq Fires Southern Oil Wells

WASHINGTON, DC, March 20, 2003 (ENS) - Iraq has set fire to several oil wells in the southern part of the country General Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters today at a Pentagon briefing, just 12 hours after bombardment of Baghdad by U.S. forces began.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Richard B. Myers (Photo courtesy U.S. Army)

"It is a crime for that regime to be destroying the riches of the Iraqi people," Rumsfeld said.

"And the people that are carrying it out from the regime are part of that crime," said the general.

The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) confirmed today that the Iraqi regime has set fire to three southern Iraqi oil wells near the city of Basra following the start of the U.S. led attack.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is the target of the U.S. led attack. (Two photos courtesy Politics (Thailand) Co., Ltd.)

The U.S. led troops are now in contol of part of southern Iraq, including the port of Um Qasr. As they move towards the southern Iraqi city of Basra, they will confront barriers set up by the Iraqis such as trenches filled with napalm, and others filled with oil, to which fire can be set to block the advance of coalition forces, KUNA reports.

Oil well near the southern port of Um Qasr. (Photo courtesy Politics (Thailand) Co., Ltd.)

Neighboring Iran has set up mobile environmental pollution measuring stations in western and southern frontier areas, the IRNA news agency reported today.

Yousef Hojjat, deputy head of the Department of Environment (DoE) in charge of human habitats, said, "The oil leaking from ships [that] drown in the sea, air pollution arising from the burning of fuels, oil wells and black rains leading to the pollution of water and soil are among the frequent polluting factors which can be tackled by DoE.

Hojjat said that inland air pollution measuring stations are constantly checking air quality and measuring any pollution that might arise from the burning of fuel reservoirs and oil wells.

U.S. soldiers stand in a bunker in Kuwait, after hearing a Scud missile siren this afternoon. (Photo by Pfc. Joshua Hutcheson courtesy U.S. Army)

The Saudi Arabian and Syrian borders are closed. Unconfirmed sources report numbers of asylum seekers on the borders with Syria, Iran and Jordan. Refugee camps are being prepared in Jordan and Iran.

Six U.S. warships and a number of U.S. strike-fighter aircraft participated in cruise missile and bomb attacks targeted at Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his inner circle Thursday, in the opening hours of military hostilities to disarm Iraq, according to a U.S. Central Command statement.