Speaking about Our Maximum Leader of course whose conduct is certainly
predictable---who the hell would want to provide military security to
truck drivers whose cargo is essential to supporting the Iraq economy?
Not the guy adamantly opposed to boots on the ground---and aerial
surveillance as well.
Kidnappings Halting Cargo, Fuel Deliveries in Iraq
*By Jim Krane* Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 21, 2004
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KIRKUK, Iraq (AP) - Rampant abductions of foreigners working for the
U.S. military and its allies in Iraq have slowed cargo and fuel
deliveries from Turkey into Iraq, with Turkish truckers refusing to
drive south of the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk for the past two weeks,
according to U.S. military reports.
Iraqi truckers have taken over deliveries of goods to U.S. bases and
other shipments once handled by Turkish drivers, said Army Maj. Bob
Peters, the intelligence officer for the 2nd Brigade of the 25th
Infantry Division, which controls security in the Kirkuk region.
Three Iraqi Kurdish drivers kidnapped and killed on Sunday were
replacing Turkish drivers that once handled the deliveries, Peters said
on Monday. The three were abducted near the U.S. Army base at Balad,
though it was not clear precisely when they disappeared.
"In the last two weeks we've seen a serious interruption in commercial
traffic" flowing south from Turkey into Iraq, Peters said.
The main U.S. convoy route, the highway from the Turkish border that
runs through Mosul and to Baghdad, is the focal point for kidnappings
and other insurgent attacks on military supply convoys. Guerrillas also
target the trucks with improvised bombs triggered by kitchen timers,
cellular phones or walkie-talkies.
Foreigners' kidnappings have often been followed by videotapes of masked
abductors displaying the captives, making demands, and in some cases
killing the victims. Peters called the tactic a successful "information
operation" that was spreading fear among travelers on the main highway,
slowing deliveries of fuel to Baghdad and other cities and sowing
economic instability.
Kidnapping has been a persistent problem in Iraq since the U.S.-led
invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Iraqis often complain that
kidnapping of foreign workers in Iraq grabs the attention of the
international media here, but that criminal gangs abduct far more
Iraqis, usually for profit.
The past 20 days have seen a burst of kidnappings of all types - Iraqi
civilians as well as foreign workers, Peters said.
On Sunday, the 25th Infantry reported that a pair of kidnapping rings
has been operating in this multiethnic city, abducting and holding
Turkomen and Kurdish children for ransom.
The gangs are based in Sunni Arab tribal areas west of Kirkuk, and have
abducted 30 to 40 Kurdish or Turkomen children inside Kirkuk and held
them captive in nearby Arab villages, said Maj. Mario Diaz, operations
officer for a 25th Infantry battalion based in the northwestern town of
Hawijah.