IRAQ counting the cost

Resistance to the illegal invasion of Iraq and a determined effort to fuck the occupation forces is destroying not only the economy of Iraq, the resolve of the US forces on the ground, and the US defence budget.

The threadbare infrastructure of the the Iraq oil industry suffered $6.25 billion in losses in 2005 as a result of sabotage to infrastructure and lost export revenues, Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said on Saturday.

Iraqi oil installations last year suffered 186 attacks , in which 47 oil engineers, technicians and workers, as well as 100 police protecting pipelines and other oil facilities, were killed plus many injured Jihad said.

Most attacks ocurred in the North, preventing exports of around 400,000 barrels a day from its northern oil fields via the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

The US wants $9 billion to “reset” its war-depleted stocks this year, the vast bulk to replace and repair tanks, helicopters and vehicles, destroyed since the illegal invasion, Army Secretary Francis Harvey said in a Feb. 7 interview.

Since the illegal invasion and the determined effort to really fuck the hearts and minds of the occupying forces 20 M1 Abrams tanks, 50 Bradley fighting vehicles, 20 Stryker wheeled combat vehicles, 20 M113 armored personnel carriers and 250 Humvees, service sources said.

The number of vehicles lost in battle comes to nearly 1,000, when heavy and medium trucks and trailers, mine clearing vehicles and Fox wheeled reconnaissance vehicles are added.
Nearly all of these losses were caused by improvised explosive devices.

Aircraft losses also have been heavy since fighting began in Afghanistan in 2001. The Army has lost 85 helicopters there and in Iraq, including 27 Apaches, 21 Black Hawks, 14 CH-47s and 23 Kiowas.

Things are getting worse ... Aircraft and vehicle losses were heavier in 2005 than 2004.

Many more vehicles are simply being worn out by a punishing pace of operations that is about five times the peacetime load.

In 2005, AMC and its contractors repaired and overhauled 230 M1 Abrams tanks; this year, that number will top 700. Bradleys will go from 318 last year to more than 600; M113s from 219 to 614; Humvees from 5,000 to almost 9,000; and aircraft from 44 to 85.