NEAR THE KUWAIT-IRAQ BORDER March 20 —
Orange flames could be seen Thursday on the horizon in the
direction of the southern Iraqi oil center Basra, and U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said three or four oil wells may have been
set afire.
Witnesses in Kuwait about eight miles south of the border said
the flickering flames were spotted after a series of explosions that
shook buildings in the area.
It was not known if the flames resulted from the explosions.
The Arab satellite television channel Al-Arabiya reported that
fires had erupted in Iraq's al-Rumeila field west of Basra and just
north of the Kuwaiti border.
Associated Press reporter Ross Simpson, embedded with a Marine
unit in northern Kuwait, says he was told by a battalion commander
that "three oil wells have been torched" in Iraq. He said he had no
first-hand confirmation of the report.
Rumsfeld said the Pentagon was trying to get additional
information.
Even before the war began, the Pentagon expressed fears that
Saddam Hussein had planned to sabotage Iraq's oil fields. A loss of
oil from Iraq home to the world's second-largest reserves could
crimp supplies for importing countries, and deny U.S. and British
governments an asset they hope will help pay for postwar
efforts.
In 1991, Iraqi troops destroyed more than 700 well heads in
Kuwait, turning its oil fields into a desert inferno that took seven
months to extinguish.
"Needless to say, it is a crime for that regime to be destroying
the riches of the Iraqi people," Rumsfeld said in Washington.
photo credit
and caption:
Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld leaves the White House, Thursday, March 20, 2003,
after briefing President Bush at the White House (AP Photo/Ron
Edmonds)
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