The appearance of a line of light stretching the length of an inaccessible area of Kuwait has stumped both military and petroleum industry experts. The images were spotted by Hank Brandli, a retired Air Force meteorological officer, who picked them up from a nonclassified military weather satellite.

Civilian oil industry experts tell POPULAR MECHANICS that the location of the lights, which extend to the Iraqi border, does not correspond with known pipelines. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which had a presence in the region from fall 2002 through (at the time of this writing) fall 2003, said it was unaware of any pipeline construction.

Brandli, an expert on satellite image analysis, thinks it is a major pipeline project. "Maybe all they're doing is building a highway. But I think we're pumping oil out of Iraq to pay for this war."