Is the below an indication that: a) Bush is just all bully talk, showing only a military muscle flex in the hopes of getting Saddam to step down; or, b) Bush is just plain dumb and can't effectively plan anything, especially what a post-Iraq war would look like and what will need be done related to reparations.
[NOTE: Since the US military already has pronounced itself ready to move in when the order is given, why isn't already in place a comprehensive plan to stop likely oil well fires, as seen from the last Gulf War?]
>>> WHO WILL PAY?
But large questions remain over how and when fire-fighting equipment would be moved to the region, and who would finance the multibillion-dollar effort.
"In Kuwait there was a willing and wealthy government to finance the work and provide contracts, and planning began four months before the wells were ignited," said Miller. "This isn't the case in Iraq. The U.S. or the U.N. may have to pay, and there has been almost no planning."
"Iraq is a very different challenge from Kuwait," said Bill Mahler, manager of Wild Well Control. "In Iraq, we have very little intelligence about the wells and the information we have received so far has been very general and vague."
Dousing the oil fires in Kuwait after the first Gulf War cost about $2.5 billion, with an additional $17 to $18 billion for reconstructing the damaged oil infrastructure, with the lion's share of the money coming from Kuwait.
A senior U.S. official said last week that Iraq intends to "cause damage or destruction" to its own oil fields if war breaks out," and that there are indications that President Saddam Hussein's forces have already started planning.
Such an attack threatens to be worse than a repetition of the oil blazes in Kuwait, which spilled 50 million barrels of oil onto the desert, 10 million barrels into the ocean, and reduced 500 million barrels into thick black clouds.
"It made the Exxon Valdez look like a drop in the bucket," said Safety Boss's Miller.<<<
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