April 17, 1991
An unused pipeline from the heart of Iraq’s Rumalah oil field into Kuwait can be the key to forcing Saddam Hussein to stop the slaughter of Kurds and other refugees.
I have just returned from London after participating in a review of emergency plans for getting Kuwait’s economy back in working order. It was there that we learned that the hitherto unknown pipeline had been completed before the outbreak of the Persian Gulf war.
This intact pipeline can be connected in about 30 days or less to deliver oil from Iraq to the tanker port in Kuwait City. While Kuwait is restoring oil wells that were set ablaze by Saddam’s forces, oil from the rich Rumallah field can be used to provide payments to Kuwait, allied forces and refugees from Saddam’s brutality. Even the thread of this will constrain Saddam and maybe lead to his removal by his own forces.
Before the war, the Rumalah field produced a million barrels a day. It has the frightening potential of serving as a cash cow to support new aggressions by Saddam. Without it, he could well be emasculated.
A small allied force can continue to hold the Rumallah area, which lies within the border buffer zone that must be protected by U.N. forces long-term in any event. It would be absurd to let Saddam dump more enormous burdens on allied taxpayers—and then gloat all the way to the bank—when we have his richest bank account in our hands right now.
Is there any more fair and proper justice than this? Any law-abiding citizen in the allied countries would have his property—let alone his neighbor’s property—let alone killing his family. But present circumstances are allowing Saddam the satisfaction of more killing while sending the bill to allied taxpayers for support of the refugees.
This is the only action we can take—short of fighting inside Iraq—that could compel Saddam to stop his aggression right now, punish him as he deserves, make the Iraqi Hierarchy realize what he is costing them and guarantee fair payment to those he has harmed.
Originally published as an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Copyright © 1991 Dr. Bill Wattenburg
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