By an OGJ correspondent
NICOSIA, Mar. 28 -- US-led military forces opened their drive to capture Iraq's northern oil fields at Kirkuk, amid growing concerns that the fields—like those in the south of Iraq—have been set with explosives to destroy them.
To secure the fields quickly, the Pentagon originally wanted to put a heavy armored force through Turkey into northern Iraq and had designated the 40,000-strong 4th Infantry Division for that mission, accompanied by another 12,000 troops. But Washington scrapped the plan after Ankara refused to provide transit rights for the US force. Instead, the 4th Infantry has been redirected to Kuwait, leaving the US to scramble to secure an alternate force to take its place.
Analysts suggest that Turkey's refusal to allow transit rights to US troops is based on its own desire to secure the Kirkuk oil fields or on its fears that Iraqi Kurds will overrun the fields and create a rich, independent homeland that would inspire revolt among Turkey's own minority Kurds.
In either case, Turkey's decision to disallow the use of its territory by US troops is widely viewed as having impeded coalition efforts to secure the fields, both by delaying and reducing the overall size of the operation as initially conceived by US war planners.
Kirkuk production
Located about 250 km north of Baghdad near the foot of the Zagors Mountains, Kirkuk has an estimated 10 billion bbl or more in remaining proven oil reserves and forms the basis for northern Iraqi oil production.
First discovered in 1927, Kirkuk can produce around 900,000 b/d of 37°, 2% sulfur crude, most of which is piped from the fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export abroad.
However, a United Nations report in June 2001 said Iraqi oil production capacity would fall sharply unless technical and infrastructure problems were addressed, with estimates that production from Kirkuk could fall by around 50% over 12 months, to 500,000 b/d.
Security concerns
Concern over the security of the Kirkuk fields increased before the start of the war, when reports emerged that Iraqi troops had taken measures to mine the facilities.
"Employees at the Baba Gurgur oil installation in Kirkuk were surprised when they were given a 24-hour leave," reported Al-Ittihad, Sulaymaniyah, a weekly newspaper published by Iraqi Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), on Mar. 7.
"During that time," the paper explained, "a special Republican Guards team planted mines at the installation under the supervision of the Special Security Authority."
Al-Ittihad said, "The main condensation plant in the Bayji area, which comprises large pumps to push oil to the Turkish Jahan station, has also been mined, as well as oil wells in the Gurlah sector."
It said, "Meanwhile, seven new employees have been stationed at the main Avana station on the Lower Zab River, where oil is pumped to Ceyhan station. The new employees include a professor who has been assigned to the station as a new worker."
Such reports built on earlier concerns that the Iraqis had actually begun to destroy the fields.
A report in the Kurdish Al-Sulaymaniyah Hawlati newspaper said, "A big explosion has occurred in one of the oil wells near the district of Shorjah in the city of Kirkuk (on Feb. 25). According to news from people arriving from Kirkuk, fire in the area was believed to be caused by an explosion, although the regime maintained it was a normal accident caused by technical problem."
Paratroops land
Despite the military setback created by Turkey's decision, the battle for Kirkuk nonetheless moved forward Thursday with the landing of 1,000 US paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade at the Hariri airfield, about 40 miles south of the Turkish-Iraqi border.
Originally planned to accompany the larger and more heavily armored 4th Infantry on the push into northern Iraq, the 173rd is expected to almost triple the size of its initial force, with tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles due to arrive soon at Hariri aboard C-130 transport planes.
The new plan for the northern front began taking shape early in the week, with US Special Forces landing troops and equipment at Harir and at Sulaymaniyah. More than 200 US Special Forces troops were in the area early Monday, while the arrival of coalition commander Maj. Gen. Henry Pete Osman indicated another key move in the opening of a northern front.
The troops' arrival coincided with sporadic US missile attacks and bombardments of the Iraqi frontlines in Chamchamal and Kalak. The attacks steadily increased until Thursday afternoon, when the Iraqi frontline atop the ridge separating Chamchamal and Kirkuk crumbled.
PUK assistance
The US aerial campaign, which forced the Iraqis to abandon their positions, enabled PUK fighters to capture the garrison town of Qarah Anjir, situated in hills, about 16 km to the east of Kirkuk.
"Following air raids over many days by the international coalition forces' planes on the positions of the dictatorial regime's forces in Bani Maqan, Kirkuk Governorate, the regime's forces today withdrew from the Chamchamal boundary," Al-Sulaymaniyah KurdSat television broadcast on Thursday.
PUK military sources said the Iraqi troops were holding only a perimeter on the edge of Kirkuk. They said the Kurds would first consolidate their positions and coordinate with US troops and their former rivals in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)—posted to the north of Kirkuk—before moving forward.
Small teams of US Special Forces also were reported working alongside their PUK allies in the operation to secure the area captured.
Meanwhile, Kurdish leaders dismissed suggestions that the Kurds would be kept out of Kirkuk in the light of Turkish concerns that a capture of the oil-rich city could embolden Kurdish moves towards independence.
"This is our area," asserted Mam Rostam, a local senior commander in Chamchamal who has been battling the central government in Baghdad for 35 years. "The Americans will not prevent us from liberating Kirkuk."
Coinciding with the advance of US-led forces, the pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan was said to be operating normally Friday, though the oil was reported to be flowing at a speed of less than 100,000 b/d—about 600,000 b/d lower than at the outbreak of the war.
