Word: iraqi
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...Iraqi politicians the more dramatic news might be where the country's unexpected reserves lie, rather than their size. The report says about 100 billion barrels of oil and a large amount of gas lie in the Sunni-dominated Al-Anbar province. Until now, Sunni politicians have feared economic devastation if Iraq divided into a federation or imploded into disparate ethnic states, since the territory dominated by their ethnic group was thought to be the only one without large reserves of oil. (Both the Shi'ite south and Kurdish north have productive fields.) "The Western desert has lain dormant," says...
...Nouri Al-Maliki wants a vote in parliament by the end of May. But talks in Dubai last week left even one of the law's authors grim about its prospects. "I can assure you the law will have a very rough ride in parliament," says Tariq Shafiq, an Iraqi petroleum consultant in London after the Dubai meeting. "I expect at least 30 to 50% objection." The new Sunni oil potential adds another huge and volatile element to the talks...
...delegation from al-Maliki's shaky coalition last week, has opposed the law. So too have several independent politicians. And the Kurdish Regional Government has cooled on the law, arguing that too many of the oil fields will fall under the control of the state-run Iraqi National Oil Company. The KRG's spokesman Khaled Salih says Kurdish politicians told Iraqi officials at the Dubai meeting: "It's not agreed yet." Now, if Sunni areas hold huge untapped oil and gas, it might draw Sunni politicians closer to Baghdad's energy plans since they would have the power...
...down from about 3 million before the war. It's lethally dangerous for oil workers, and virtually no international company dares operate outside Kurdistan. For all its promise, the Sunni-dominated al-Anbar province is where insurgents have waged a vicious fight against American and Iraqi forces. Until now it has seen almost no energy production at all. Decades of war and sanctions have left oil wells in serious disrepair, and Iraqi officials say they will need about $20 billion in repairs to boost its production to about 4 million...
Margaret and Pauline's early years in Iraq are a time of relative comfort, of trading tips with other expats on where to find potatoes and Western clothes. War with Iran brings increased state propaganda and a clampdown on dissent that makes Iraqis distrustful of neighbors. Then, in 1990, international sanctions bring food shortages and ration lines. Operation Iraqi Freedom seems a godsend, but optimism fizzles when there's no new order to fill the post-Saddam vacuum. By 2005, the women are all but trapped in their own homes, depressed, often without electricity, scared of random violence...