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| Iraq |
| EOD teams help secure Iraqi oil wells |
| 2003-03-31 |
| Edited for length: Marine and Navy explosive ordnance disposal experts are continuing to ensure that roughly 1,400 oil wells in southern Iraq have not been rigged for explosives by fleeing Iraqi soldiers. So far, EOD experts say they have found very few of the wells damaged or booby-trapped, despite ominous warnings from top U.S. officials that the oil fields, which will be crucial to providing funds for rebuilding Iraq, had been wired for destruction. âI donât really know why [there werenât more booby traps],â said Marine Maj. Jorge Lizarralde, the officer in charge of the teams that are methodically working their way through the oil fields. The field is roughly the size of the state of New Jersey, and Lizarraldeâs crews are about half done. âItâs not hard to do if you know what youâre doing.â Lizarralde said no booby traps were found and only two wells were discovered with âfire wire and detonators.â For some reason, he said, the explosives were unsuccessful. Coalition forces found just nine fires and only seven wells were ignited. The other two blazes were at small utility buildings. On Saturday, just three wells were still been burning, and by the end of the day one of those was extinguished. The EOD teams are moving in before the firefighting and engineering teams, Lizarralde said, and they also scan the area for any land mines. Lizarralde said his crews have found only a handful of mines, which were Italian- or Czech-made. He could not determine when they had been placed, he said. Helping control the situation are roughly 100 soldiers attached to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Army Brig. Gen. Robert Crear, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Southwestern Division, who was at the scene of the fires Saturday. Most of the soldiers are reservists who had their names culled from individuals who already were working in the oil industry, Crear said. âWe got some real experts,â he said. A hand-picked team of reservists from the oil patch. Somebody was thinking ahead. |
| Posted by:Steve |