The Conquest Of Southwest Asia

BEIRUT - Just one day after the London July bombings, one remarkably named Aseem Jihad, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry, told Iraqi media that 11 southern Iraqi oil fields, capable of producing at least 3 million barrels a day, were being put up for tender to international investors, to the tune of US$25 billion. With oil prices possibly going to $100 a barrel in the not-too-distant future, there could hardly be better news for the oil industry. There is always the possibility that all those billions will never end up at Iraq's Oil Ministry, to the benefit of the Iraqi people - but will fill the pockets of oil barons, militias operating at Iraq's Interior Ministry and Bush administration-supported middlemen ("Western contractors", "couriers", "intelligence assets", brokers, even tribal leaders) in Baghdad. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/GJ07Ak01.html

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