US Companies Join Race on Iraqi Oil Bonanza

by Timothy Williams

"Iraq has little choice," said Joost R. Hiltermann, deputy program director for the Middle East and North Africa with the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization that aims to prevent deadly conflicts. "It is desperate to increase its revenues, almost all of which derive from the sale of oil. But the government has little capacity to monitor the many companies that will be involved in rehabilitating its ailing oil industry, or indeed its own operations. This is a recipe for massive corruption, but for Iraqi policy makers the cost will be worth it, given the expected massive returns."