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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (15421)	3/24/2003 5:01:54 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

I had a feeling that with all the consensus that this war would be over before it started, that it was going to surprise a lot of folks........... Message 18690851 I still think that it will not drag on for numerous months or even years though. One thing that has hurt is our hyper emphasis on limiting civilian casualties. Waging war on a whole country makes such hyper sensitivity a weakness when your opponent has no qualms killing as many people by any means necessary. And no, I am not saying or intimating that we should disregard our concerns for civilian casualties. I am saying that in doing so, we have made a swift victory much harder to accomplish. Another point to ponder. Saddam may be a lot of bad things. One thing he does have though is a lot of experience in waging war & he will not hesitate to slaughter his own people to slow us down. :-(

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (15421)	3/24/2003 7:50:01 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Oil Prices Surge on Market Fears of War By BRUCE STANLEY AP Finance News 03/24/2003 18:20:03 EST Crude prices surged Monday on market fears that the war in Iraq might take longer than some had anticipated and because of a disruption of supplies from Nigeria. Stiffening resistance to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has undercut hopes for a brief war and an early rehabilitation of that country's oil industry. Iraq pumped 2.5 million barrels a day before fighting began and typically exported about four-fifths of that amount. May contracts of North Sea Brent, Europe's benchmark crude, jumped $1.74 a barrel to $26.09 in late trading in London. Contracts of U.S. light, sweet crude for May delivery were trading $1.75 higher at $28.66 a barrel in New York. Fighting around burning oil wells in southern Iraq's Rumeila oil field has driven out civilian oil-fire specialists working to quell the blazes, a top firefighter said. U.S.-led forces had previously thought the field's facilities were secure. Kuwaiti firefighters claimed credit for putting out the first fire at a booby-trapped Iraqi well Monday. Kuwait's senior firefighter, Aisa Bouyabes, said he believes his team and others can douse the six remaining fires in Iraq's Rumeila South oil field within two weeks. Coalition forces have made a priority of securing Iraqi oil installations to prevent their possible sabotage by Iraqis. Confusion persisted over the extent of any Iraqi plans to damage or destroy their southern oil facilities. British military sources said last week that almost all Iraqi oil facilities had been mined or booby-trapped, indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to blow up his entire economy. Iraq's newspaper Al-Thawrah said on its Web site Sunday that this was a lie. "What is burning in that area is no more than artificial trenches filled with oil to be used as obvious methods of defense," the paper said. Iraqis have sometimes ignited oil in trenches to create thick smoke to confuse their attackers. Iraq has 1,685 producing wells. Rob Laughlin, managing director of London brokerage GNI Man Financial, blamed fears of an "elongating" war for causing much of the market's jitters. "I think a lot of people thought everything could end by Sunday," added Orrin Middleton, an analyst at Barclays Capital in London. "As it was, they were overoptimistic. They came in Monday and began covering their open positions." Another cause for concern was social unrest in Nigeria that has forced oil companies there to suspend at least 40 percent of the country's production. Shell Development Petroleum Co, a unit of Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria, has shut down 370,000 barrels a day in crude output after evacuating facilities in the oil-rich Niger River delta, company spokeswoman Kate Hill said Monday. ChevronTexaco on Sunday evacuated staff and shut practically all of its installations in the area, suspending production of 440,000 barrels a day. The Niger delta has suffered civil unrest between rival ethnic Ijaw and Itsekiri communities in the run-up to parliamentary and presidential elections in April. Nigeria, which normally pumps about 2 million barrels a day, has now lost more than 800,000 barrels in daily production due to weeks of fighting. "People have one eye focused on Nigeria to see what happens," Middleton said. Nigeria normally accounts for seven percent of U.S. crude imports. In other trading Monday, April gasoline futures on the Nymex settled 4.54 cents higher at 89.79 cents per gallon. April heating oil futures rose 2.81 cents to settle at 78.37 cents a gallon. April natural gas futures rose 12.5 cents to $5.253 per 1,000 cubic feet.