Yup. As I've been saying on LBO for several years, War with a Real Country. It's in the cards.
The oil card is clearly a factor in the current tug-of-war between Baghdad, Washington and key members of the U.N. Security Council that oppose the Bush administration's push for a military move on Iraq. In recent years, seeking to curry favor, Hussein has given huge contracts to oil firms from France, Russia and China, which all have veto power in the Security Council. The French oil giant TotalFinaElf has the largest position in Iraq, with exclusive negotiating rights to develop Majnoon, a field near the Iranian border with estimated reserves of 10 billion barrels. Moscow has a $3.5 billion, 23-year agreement for several huge Iraqi fields that gives a lead position to a Russian oil consortium led by LukOil.
