Leo Drollas of the Center for Global Energy Studies in London said he wouldn't be surprised if Saddam had issued general orders for sabotage to begin.
"But it wouldn't be everyone who executed the commands," he said. "It depends on which army units are there and how much they're looking over their shoulders."
With tensions rising over the past several months, Saddam has had plenty of time to organize such destruction. He also has the experience.
In 1991, Iraqi troops needed just a few days and some plastic explosives to destroy more than 700 well heads and turn Kuwait's occupied oil fields into a desert inferno. The result was geysers of burning crude and lasting environmental damage. Teams of firefighters worked from April until November to put out the fires.
It took Kuwait more than two years and US$50 billion to restore its oil output to prewar levels.
RSS