****WEL NEWS: THE LATEST FROM HOUSTON**** --MoneyMade
from Yahoo cannot confirm..date seems odd 27th? but Houston chronicle article link is Legitimate:
messages.yahoo.com
Houston,Tx January 27,2003:Boots & Coots releases a preliminary statement concerning the recent inquiry from the government.Due to the nature of imminent threat posed by the leader of Iraq, Boots & Coots can only say they will be available & prepared to extiguish any explosive situation that would present itself.
Our experience in the Middle east as well as our resources in the area allow us to readily step into "The Fire" IF this unfortunate travesty plays out.The ability to serve this great country is top priority.
From Houston Chronicle News:
chron.com
Remembering the burning oil fields of Kuwait, military planners have contacted three Houston-area oil well firefighting companies, Wild Well Control, Cudd Well Control and Boots & Coots International Well Control, about the prospect of following the troops into Iraq.
Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam has begun to wire some of Iraq's 1,500 oil wells with explosives, just as his troops did in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War, a senior Defense Department official said Friday.
"We have a concern he will try to destroy everything," the source said, adding, "Destruction of the oil fields truly would be an act of terror."
Images of Saddam's man-made disaster in Kuwait 12 years ago remain vivid in the firefighters' minds: oil wells belching smoke for months on end; sand turned to glass; pools of oil littering the desert.
The smoke was so thick "there were days at noon when you couldn't see the sun -- black, black, black, black, black," said Mark Badick, chief operating officer of Safety Boss, a Calgary, Alberta-based oil-well blowout company that worked as part of the multinational team.
The task could be even more daunting if Saddam's troops set Iraq's oil fields ablaze.
While Kuwait is a relatively tiny nation -- only about the size of Harris County -- Iraq is as big as Texas, with 73 oil fields sprinkled across the country.
Repairing extensive damage to those fields could take years and cost upwards of $50 billion, said the Pentagon source |
