Iraq oil, part 1

So I am writing a paper on Iraq's oil industry. Some of the figures are absolutely astounding. It is estimated that Iraq loses $2 billion annually to corruption within the Oil Ministry - people skimming off profits that are meant to go to the Iraqi government and the people it serves - plus another $2 billion is lost to poor infrastructure damaged by insurgent attacks. Iraqis deal with daily fuel shortages because the refineries cannot meet demands, and some nations such as Turkey are withholding further loans because Iraq can't make debt payments. And the Bush Administration seemed to advertise that the Iraq war would pay for itself; at the very least, the reconstruction effort was supposed to have been funded by oil revenue. That's how I remember it, but perhaps I'm mistaken. Either way, seriously, there's more than just a little civil war happening in Iraq. The government is severely underfunded, the people are underemployed which makes collecting taxes a joke. And the United States wants to drawdown troops and reduce its responsibility in the country. I understand that we don't want the soldiers there any longer than they need to be - I believe that the soldiers have done an outstanding job, and I am not one known to lay accolades on the military - but considering that we are expected Iraqis to pay for the damage that WE did with money they don't have, is it any wonder that they aren't too happy with us right now?

A few more figures to chew over: Iraq exports about 1.5 million barrels a day. Considering that the United States alone consumes 20 million barrels a day, this is a drop in the bucket. Iraq's oil reserves are estimated at being 100 billion barrels, and I am not sure if this figure includes the oil that experts believe could be under the Kurdish northern provinces. It is reasonable to believe that there is more oil in Iraq that we do not know about yet. The problem is the country is so dangerous, no one wants to seriously invest in new oil rigs, and the pipelines have been blown to bits by insurgents, so the oil that is produced can't leave Iraq quickly enough. One pipeline that spans from Kirkuk to Ceyhan, Turkey, is designed to handle 800,000 barrels a day, but only carries 40,000 barrels a day due to repeated attacks. I won't even go into the botched repair efforts by a certain unnamed company previously headed by the vice president (I'm sure there's a clever joke about shooting someone in the face to go here, but I just can't think of it right now).

Okay, that's my rant for the night. Time for bed.

My first blog

I read these things all the time, and find them delicious...there's something wonderful about the Internet that makes ordinary people feel like posting their inner-most thoughts publicly, when they would rarely do such a thing in 'real life'. But here I am, joining them...

I am a graduate student on the west coast. I don't really feel like saying which school on the west coast, that seems a bit too personal and I don't want one of my classmates to find this thing and start sniggering at me. Anyways, I study the Middle East, which is completely fascinating and frustrating all at the same time. I tell people that when I go to seminars, we don't discuss, we yell. I mean, how can you talk about the war in Iraq, the status of Palestinians, and the countless other issues that make headlines everyday, and not feel your blood pressure start to jump just a little bit? Perhaps this only shows how nerdy I am. Another frustrating aspect of the Middle East (at least for me at this point) is the Arabic language. Don't kid yourself, it is not easy, not like learning French or Spanish. Not only do you have to learn an entirely new alphabet, you read backwards. The grammatical rules are entirely different from any other language I have tried to learn. Actually, the grammer doesn't frustrate me that much, I kind of feel like grammer is more like learning the rules of a puzzle than an obstacle to be overcome, but given the million things going on in my life, I just don't have the time to focus on language, which leads to frustration and lackluster grades. Which is why I am very excited about going to Lebanon this summer to study Arabic for 6 weeks. I figure devoting all of my time to learning the language has to help, ensha'allah (God willing), otherwise I will have to resign myself to sounding like a moron when I speak.

Speaking of Arabic, I have a "quiz" (more like an inquisition) tomorrow, so I must go off and study for it. More to follow, though I'm sure I have left absolutely no one hanging at this point. -C