.Has Oil Been Good for Iraq?
BAGHDAD — Even half a century ago Iraq’s oil pipeline from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean coastline was called the country’s “Third River,” so important was it to the land of the Tigris and the Euphrates.
The disclosure that Royal Dutch Shell has established an office in Baghdad — the first foreign petroleum giant to do so since Iraq nationalized its oil industry more than three decades ago – is the latest twist in decades of foreign involvement in the most lucrative of the nation’s natural resources.
Apart, perhaps, from the water that gave Mesopotamia its name in the first place, and provided the foundation for centuries of civilization long before hydrocarbons became the spine – and skull, ribcage, pelvis, arms and legs - of its economy.
On June 3, 1941 The New York Times ran a quadruple headline about the departure of German airborne forces from northern Iraq. The first line read: “NAZIS QUIT MOSUL; IRAQ PICKS REGIME.” The second line declared: “Oil Center Reported Cleared of Germans, but Status of Pipeline is Indefinite.” Once that was established, it affirmed: “BOY KING SAFE IN BAGHDAD” and reported details of the proposed new government.
Such keen overseas interest in Iraq’s oil prompted two Iraqi reporters on The New York Times in Baghdad to launch into a heated late-night discussion about whether oil had actually been good or bad for Iraq throughout its recent history.
Ali Hameed and Atheer Kakan agreed to reprise that discussion in front of a microphone, hosted by Stephen Farrell.
Baghdad Bureau
The disclosure that Royal Dutch Shell has established an office in Baghdad — the first foreign petroleum giant to do so since Iraq nationalized its oil industry more than three decades ago – is the latest twist in decades of foreign involvement in the most lucrative of the nation’s natural resources.
Apart, perhaps, from the water that gave Mesopotamia its name in the first place, and provided the foundation for centuries of civilization long before hydrocarbons became the spine – and skull, ribcage, pelvis, arms and legs - of its economy.
On June 3, 1941 The New York Times ran a quadruple headline about the departure of German airborne forces from northern Iraq. The first line read: “NAZIS QUIT MOSUL; IRAQ PICKS REGIME.” The second line declared: “Oil Center Reported Cleared of Germans, but Status of Pipeline is Indefinite.” Once that was established, it affirmed: “BOY KING SAFE IN BAGHDAD” and reported details of the proposed new government.
Such keen overseas interest in Iraq’s oil prompted two Iraqi reporters on The New York Times in Baghdad to launch into a heated late-night discussion about whether oil had actually been good or bad for Iraq throughout its recent history.
Ali Hameed and Atheer Kakan agreed to reprise that discussion in front of a microphone, hosted by Stephen Farrell.
Baghdad Bureau
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