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Iraq boosts efforts to guard valuable oil infrastructure

Iraq's government is stepping up efforts to protect its vast and valuable oil infrastructure, hoping reduce constant attacks that have deprived Iraq of much-needed reconstruction money.

Battered by constant sabotage, 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 on 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.

Hoping to more aggressively monitor the desert from the air, Australian experts are now training Iraqis on how to use eight SB7L-360 Seeker Reconnaissance aircraft. Jihad said the number of aircraft would double soon.

The US military is also doing its part, Major Jay Antonelli of the US Marine Corps said.

"However, the individual companies which own the pipelines are ultimately responsible for the security of the pipelines," he said.
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