some years ago I recall regularly reading about these pipelines being attacked and shut down for repairs. Nowadays, apparently, not so much. Even though there is still some sort of ongoing insurgency and, conceivably, there is the neighboring Iran that might have a strong interest in promoting this sort of terrorism.
Well, so is it known what has changed over there? Have the oil companies figured out some new and exciting measures to secure pipelines against attacks? Or is it more a matter of winning the hearts, minds, pockets and fears of the organizations involved so that conceivably things could unravel into new attacks if political situation changes?
I’d think that it would be because the Iraqi government, such as it is, has demonstrated that it is unwilling to go along with American plans to steal all the oil money.
I didn’t intend it as a political jab. The Iraqi government didn’t go along with American demands for the the oil money; the fact that Iraq gets to keep the money is an obvious reason for the Iraqis to stop blowing up their own oil infrastructure.
This is basically a political question, after all.
ETA: And there’s one in Captain Amazing’s link that I missed, in Feb. 2010.
Not so much, maybe, but not nothing. Pipeline sabotage up through 2007 is documented at Iraq Pipeline Watch, which lists nearly 150 pipeline attacks in 2004 and about 80 in 2007, after which they stopped updating the list regularly.
So are you asking about how Iraq pipeline sabotage was stopped, to which the answer is “It hasn’t been stopped”, or about why Iraq pipeline sabotage is less frequent than it used to be?
