They don't attack non-functioning pipelines

This is from an LA Times article I got off of Army Knowledge Online today. The primary focus of the article is the challenge of legislation about Iraqi oil production and revenue sharing. What got me giggling however, was the ending (the attacks aren't funny, but the explanation for the decrease in attacks was) :

"There were at least 15 attacks on Iraqi oil facilities in the first three months of the year, according to the institute. They included slayings of oil industry workers and bombings of wells and the pipeline that carries oil from Baiji, in northern Iraq, to Turkey.

The number of attacks is lower than during the same period last year, but Luft said that is because saboteurs' favorite target, the pipeline, has been hit so many times that it rarely functions.

"They normally do not attack pipelines that are not in operation," Luft said.

Times staff writers Zeena Kareem, Raheem Salman and Ned Parker in Baghdad and Maggie Farley in New York contributed to this report.