How Iraq plans to fight back

WASHINGTON - United States defence officials accuse President Saddam Hussein of planning to destroy his oil wells as he did to Kuwait's in 1991.

The US military has said it planned to take control quickly of Iraq's oil fields in the event of war.

A senior US defence official has told a Pentagon briefing that "a variety of intelligence sources" indicate that Saddam intends to "cause damage or destruction to their oil fields".

US military planners "have crafted strategies that will allow us to secure and protect those fields as rapidly as possible in order to then preserve those prior to destruction, as opposed to having to go in and clean up after", he said.

The official said preserving the oil fields would secure the single most important economic asset that Iraq will need in order to get back on its feet after Saddam and his Government are gone.

He said oil could provide Iraq with US$20 billion ($36.4 billion) to $30 billion ($54.6 billion) a year.

"This is not about the US trying to gain advantage by taking these oil fields or to preserve its own oil industry," the official said.

"It is solely to preserve the capability of the Iraqi people to stand up very quickly after a Saddam regime."

Iraq trails only Saudi Arabia in terms of oil reserves.

The official said that Saddam's forces set fire to 730 of Kuwait's 1000 oil wells during the Gulf War. Iraq has about 1500 oil well heads, about 1000 in southern Iraq and 500 in the north.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq