Two interesting articles about Oil in Iraq — from the Cato institute and the Wall Street Journal no less!
They point out that even if “security” concerns are the primary reason for going to war, oil isn’t far behind — and if there is a war, oil will become one of the primary issues. As the WSJ reports:
“If U.S. forces find themselves in control of Iraq, international law would give them a large degree of leeway in managing the country’s oil fields. Some analysts expect Washington–eager to avoid accusations of going to war for oil–to refrain from making big decisions about the industry in the early days of any Iraqi occupation. But international treaties concerning military occupation and precedents dating to the early 1800s give the administration ammunition to press for a more aggressive role in Iraq’s oil patch.”
Credit: This item was blogged over at the NoWarBlog, as well as the Cato Daily Dispatch.
