Baiji, Iraq-January 4, 2006: Oil is Iraq's principal resource. But insurgent attacks are crippling the refinement and delivery processes, thrusting the world's second-largest oil producer into a fuel crisis.

The lines to gas stations in some parts of Baghdad are backed up for 2 miles. In Basra, where the increase in insurgent violence has forced private gas stations to close, Iraqis can't get gas at normal filling stations at all. A lucrative black market for gasoline is emerging throughout the country, where roadside stands command even higher prices than the already inflated costs at filling stations.

Indeed, there is a crippling fuel crisis taking place in Iraq, the second largest oil-producing country in the world.

In December, Iraq's oil exports hit their lowest monthly level since the US-led coalition overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003. And when the Iraqi Government announced a raise in the price of gas-a staggering 200% increase for both running cars and heating houses-angry protests emerged nationwide by Iraqis who know it's not for lack of the natural resource that the country is suffering.

Insurgents have escalated assaults against the production and distribution of gasoline in Iraq, launching increasingly violent attacks on refinery workers and truck drivers. The rebels are simultaneously crippling the economy and striking fear in the hearts of new government supporters with each callous act against a convoy or a pipeline. But it is in Baiji, home of Iraq's largest oil refinery, where workers are under the most torturous pressure from the insurgency.

The plant in Baiji has the capability of producing more gasoline than Iraq's other two refineries combined, thanks to an ample flow of oil drawn from fields near Kirkuk. The miles of above-ground pipelines are frequently bombed, but Iraqi workers involved in the physical distribution of gasoline are hardest hit by insurgents. Delivering fuel is one of the most dangerous occupations in Iraq: big, soft targets that carry the symbolic fruits of the new government's labor.

Last month, the Baiji refinery closed its doors for two days after both its network of pipelines and delivery tankers were targeted by violent insurgent attacks. The rebels vowed more vicious attacks would come to those who sought to produce and distribute gasoline, and when the refinery re-opened, the Baiji employees didn't show up for work. At a loss of $20 million a day, the new Iraqi government promised-and delivered-added security for Baiji workers. Still, 60% of the Baiji truck drivers never returned.

Merely a week later, 60 fuel tankers are ambushed during a vital supply delivery to Baghdad. Dozens of armed men wielding automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades swarm the convoy and converge upon its drivers and security escorts. A third of the tankers are destroyed, Iraqi Army vehicles are decimated, and innocent men are slaughtered on site.

The continued disruption in Iraq's oil infrastructure threatens an irreparable backlash against the new Iraqi government and American officials. Rising gas prices, unemployment, and death tolls-coupled with steeply declining oil export revenue places Iraqis in a perilous position: living once again in a violent cycle of oppression.