Baghdad/Israel pipeline discussed

Why does this make me nervous?

Plans to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to Israel are being discussed between Washington, Tel Aviv and potential future government figures in Baghdad.

The plan envisages the reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq's northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria.

Now, its resurrection would transform economic power in the region, bringing revenue to the new US-dominated Iraq, cutting out Syria and solving Israel's energy crisis at a stroke.

It would also rile anti-Israel fervor in Iraq, be a ripe and constant target for sabotage, further encourage theories that the US invasion was a "Zionist plot", and fuel guerilla resistance to the US occupation.

To be sure, this is not a bad idea, per se. It's just not the kind of thing you roll out while tensions are still running high.

Posted April 21, 2003 01:44 AM | Comments (93)