Iraq To Stregthen Its Security

Iraqi government is proposing up efforts to protect its vast and valuable oil infrastructure, hoping to reduce constant attacks that have deprived Iraq of much-needed reconstruction money.
Iraq's Oil Ministry has deployed a new 14,000-member security force, has begun paying tribal leaders to guard pipelines and plans to double its fleet of reconnaissance aircraft, Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said Sunday.
"When these pipelines were laid decades ago, no one then thought that saboteurs will damage them," Jihad said in discussing the security challenge.
Though similar measures have been tried in the past, efforts by oil officials to make pipelines more secure have taken on a renewed urgency in recent weeks, in hopes of safeguarding revenue that makes up almost 95 percent of Iraq's budget.

On Friday, insurgents detonated explosives in what authorities described as one of the worst sabotage attacks in northern Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion. Last week, a sabotage attack on a cluster of about 20 oil pipelines in southern Iraq cut exports from the key oil producing region for several days.