|
 |
Thursday, August 26, 2004 |
 Breslin hooks up with Cryptome. Later, there were no police at Riverside Drive and 75th Street, where one of the two 26-inch natural gas pipelines comes into the city. The pipe here at 75th Street comes under a river that is 120 feet deep. It pumps over a million cubic feet of natural gas a day into the city. This pipeline, and one up at 175th Street, provide all the natural gas to New York. At 75th Street yesterday, behind an empty park bench, were two posts that always held the sign that had been there for years and which stated: "Warning. Do Not Anchor or Dredge, Gas Pipelines Crossing, Continental Gas Pipeline Corp." As an act of homeland security, the sign has been taken down. This meant that nobody would know anymore that the pipeline was right under their feet. The sign at the 175th Street site also has been removed. This is bureaucratic voodoo: You take something everybody knows and say it is a secret.
7:50:45 PM 
|
|
This is getting tricky (as anticipated):
- Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's foremost Shiite cleric, wants U.S.-led military forces to leave Najaf and nearby Kufa as a condition for establishing peace with cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his militia, said a London aide to the ayatollah.
- As a further condition for al-Sistani's efforts as a peacemaker, Allawi's government must provide ``monetary compensation to those who suffered loss of property, loss of business'' in Najaf, Bassam said.
4:39:25 PM
|
|
Cryptome. A collection of al Qaeda statements.
9:45:19 AM
|
|
A fresh series of attacks on a cluster of 20 pipelines south of Basra has cut Iraqi oil exports by 1/3. GG attacks continue (Update: damage estimates increased to slightly more than 1/2 of production -- 950,000 barrels a day or ~$30 m a day). This attack appears less well planned than previous ones but even ad hoc efforts can have a major impact. Here's Reuters video of the attack's consequences. Total economic damage due to Najaf attacks now estimated at $160 m and rising rapidly).
8:52:49 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
|
|
|
