U.S. Seeks to Stop Oil From Iraq to Syria

Tue, Apr 15, 2003

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON -

"...U.S. military engineers have reported that they shut down a pipeline used for illegal oil shipments from Iraq (news - web sites) to Syria, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.

But Rumsfeld said he could not guarantee that the pipeline was completely shut off or that oil was not being clandestinely shipped from Iraq to Syria.

"We do not have perfect knowledge," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon (news - web sites) news conference. "We do know that they were instructed to shut it down and they have told us that they have."

Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said coalition forces had not destroyed any pipelines.

"They would not destroy the pipeline or any of the other infrastructure," Myers said. http://story.news.yahoo.com

The pipeline opened in 2000 and was believed to have handled about $1.2 billion worth of oil a year shipped in violation of the United Nations (news - web sites) sanctions against Iraq..."

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printed from U.S. Seeks to Stop Oil From Iraq to Syria on 2004-05-30 23:30:46