From: Claire Gilbert <cgilbert@igc.org>
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Date: 19 Jul 92 23:14 PDT
Subject: The Biggest Bomb on Earth
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1466601721:000:9366
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cgilbert    Jul 19 23:14:00 1992


The following article concerning Kuwait oil lakes will appear in
_Blazing Tattles_, Vol. 1, Issue 12, July 1992.  _Blazing Tattles_
judges that the implications for the environment override the
political overtones.  With notes it is 3 pages.

                    THE BIGGEST BOMB ON EARTH
                          by Joe Vialls

     Despite strong protests from a multitude of countries
including Egypt and Syria, the Bush Administration is still
considering further 'military' action against Iraq.  The last U.S.
excursion up the Persian Gulf resulted in the destruction of major
oil fields, and the deaths of 70,000 innocent women and children. 
If the Bush Administration has a second go and accidentally drops
a stray napalm pod on northern Kuwait, it could trigger an
explosion that would make a 50 megaton 'nuke' look like a
firecracker casually thrown on the fourth of July.
     When the firefighters returned from Kuwait last November, they
forgot to tell the world about the large number of high pressure
wells that were still spewing crude oil and gas onto the ravaged
landscape.  They also forgot to explain how oilmen were to cap high
pressure wells that would eventually be awash in huge lakes of
crude oil bubbling with explosive gas.
     Under normal circumstances in the west oilmen always stop the
oil flow before putting out the fire.  In the case of almost every
blowout that has not ignited spontaneously in the past, fires have
been deliberately lit to burn off the oil and gas -- keeping it
clear of the well control crews while they stopped the oil flow. 
In Kuwait, though, the reverse technique was used for reasons that
have not yet been made clear.
     A week after the Emir of Kuwait threw the switch that stopped
the last fire, the British New Scientist sounded a delicate warning
about non burning gushers, and commented on oil lakes:
     "In the northern oilfield, many small lakes have run together
to form rivers that stretch for many kilometers."
     One of those small lakes is known to be about a meter deep and
measures 8 by 5 kilometers.  It sounds quite small and shallow
until figures are fed into a computer, revealing a volume in excess
of 230 million barrels of crude oil.  Like other small lakes and
rivers that surround it, the crude oil can hold up to about 25%
gas.  Exactly the same sort of gas the reduced the North Sea Piper
Alpha drilling platform to a twisted, charred mass of steel in
second.
     As the Bush Administration girds itself for another onslaught
on Iraq, the increasing ambient air temperatures in the Middle East
ensure the silent release of an ever increasing amount of gas from
the lakes to the atmosphere, steadily forming a gas cloud of truly
mammoth proportions.
     Things will get a wee bit risky when U.S. fighter-bombers
streak across the area, on the way from the Gulf to kill a few more
thousand women and children.
     If a single fighter-bomber flies through the edge of that gas
cloud with its afterburners glowing white-hot, or if a nervous
pilot clicks the wrong switch and releases napalm pods into the
lake, we have all the ingredients for the world's biggest bomb.  To
even begin to comprehend the magnitude of what might happen at that
precise point in time, it is necessary to understand how the
American FAE (Fuel Air Explosive) weapon works, for the general
principle is exactly the same.

                    The Poor Man's Atom Bomb

     The FAE's used by the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq during
the conflict were so large that no known bomber could lift them. 
Instead, each fat 15,000 pound monster was shoved out of a C130
transport plane.
     Each FAE is filled with a mixture of liquefied gas and
stabilizing chemical, in the middle of which is a rather special
small package.
     After leaving its C130 transport plane, the FAE falls under a
drag parachute before bursting open at a predetermined altitude,
releasing the liquid gas which immediately evaporates into a gas
cloud, "stabilized" by the toxic chemical component, with the
intent of achieving a "gas in air" content of about 5%.
     While this is happening, the special package is slowly falling
through the cloud itself, under its own parachute.  The instant its
internal gas sensor detects that the gas/air ratio is just right,
it closes a circuit that fires a white hot incendiary mounted
directly beneath.
     In a millisecond, the cloud explodes with sufficient force to
reduce stone buildings to dust over an area of some 2 to 3
kilometers.  Further out from the blast, oxygen is torn from the
atmosphere so fast to feed the explosion, all humans in range have
their lungs ripped out through their mouths instantly.
     The Bush Administration and the Pentagon probably nicknamed
the FAE "The Poor Man's Atom Bomb" in a deliberate attempt to
mislead the public.  Such rhetoric is confusing.  By comparison
with the 15,000 lb. FAE, a low-yield tactical nuclear shell fired
from a 155mm howitzer is a little more than a damp squib.

                        The Rumaila Bomb

     The main oil field in the north of Kuwait is called "Rumaila,"
a huge underground reservoir that crosses the border with Iraq. 
Until U.S. air power destroyed its surface facilities, Rumaila was
the primary Iraqi oil producing field.
     Unlike the low pressure field around the Burgan Complex, that
environmental groups such as Greenpeace were allowed to visit on
carefully escorted "tourist trips," access to Rumaila has been
denied to all.  The reason was that while Burgan was blowing at an
impressive 600 p.s.i., Rumaila left it for dead with oil and gas
pressure more than ten times higher, at up to 11,000 p.s.i.  Had
Greenpeace been allowed to view the area, it might have felt
compelled to make very strong comments about the devastation.
     It is within this top security area that the oil lakes have
formed, partly because of the awesome pressure - and thus oil and
gas outputs - feeding them continually with more volume.
     Beyond any doubt, Rumaila is a potential giant FAE with powers
that disturb many physicists.  Bearing in mind that the big U.S.
FAE contain a mere 15,000 pounds of liquid gas, it is impossible to
estimate the overall explosive potential of the gas cloud covering
a huge 230 million barrel oil lake during peak summer temperatures.
     I spoke to several physicists who initially plugged
approximate figures into their computers, went a sick shade of gray
and then tried again.  None were prepared to be quoted by name and
the only comment I can repeat was from one physicists who, turning
from his computer screen wide eyes, drew in a long deep breath.
     "Shit!" was all he said.
     Off the record estimate of possible blast damage ranged from
massive local devastation, to an explosion of such force that the
bang would be heard, and possibly felt, from Tel Aviv to Karachi. 
Whichever it might be, this is not time for the Bush Administration
to be fooling around in the area, with young navy "Top Gun" pilots
toting vast quantities of "hot" munitions around on their multiple
wing pylons.

NOTES:
1.  While the above material by Mr. Vialls is copyrighted, he and
_Blazing Tattles_ have granted permission for the article to be
reproduced in full by anyone in the U.S. provided the context is
not altered in any way.  Mr. Vialls is a journalist in Perth,
Australia.

2.  The following news article describes U.S.-Britain burning Iraqi
farms through the use of aerial bombings recently:
     "In a move which will add to the already tense relations
between Iraq and the U.N. Security Council, the Iraqi mission here
is demanding compensation from the United States and Britain for
damages caused by the aerial bombing of agricultural fields in
northern Iraq.  and to prove the allegations were not mere
propaganda, Samir al-Nima, the Iraqi Charge d'Affaires showed
dramatic video footage friday of U.S. F-16s and British Jaguars
flying low over farmland dropping flares.
     "...The footage showed planes flying at tree-top level leaving
a trail of fire in what seemed to be a wheat field.  Farmers were 
shown dousing the flames and some of them, according to al-Nima,
were badly burnt.
     "In all, there have been 31 sorties in the Mosul area since
May 27 by U.S.. and British warplanes. some 11,000 acres have been
destroyed, and 7,700 tonnes of wheat has been set ablaze, al-Nima
said.
     "When Iraq first made the allegations, the U.S. State
Department denied it. but two days later on Jun. 20, the Pentagon
admitted that one plane had dropped flares due to pilot error.
However, the low flying sorties over iraqi wheat fields have
continued, the last being two days ago, al-Nima said.
     "Iraq has asked for a special meeting of the U.N. Security
Council to discuss the issue and has offered to show the film as
proof.  'Unfortunately we have not got a reply to our request so
far,' al-Nima said."  (From:  "United Nations: Iraq demands
compensation from U.S., Britain," New York, July 10, Inter-Press
Service.)
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