What is happening to the Iraqi oil money?

[Ivan Seeking]

I was wondering about this and haven't had the chance to look into it. Who is getting the money from the Iraqi oil sold? They are supposed to be at ~50% of pre-war production levels. And who is monitoring oil production and sales?

 

[Amp1]

I found this: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0714/p02s01-woiq.html
which seems to validate what your implying, if I read between the lines of your question correctly.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Thanks for the link.

I wasn't implying anything other than I've heard nothing about it. I have heard how far behind schedule things are and such, but nothing about how the money is managed. The article linked does make one wonder if the oil money is going into a black hole. If we can't control spending here, what do you suppose the state of affairs is in Iraq?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I heard someone say that the US stands to lose money financially form Iraq, anybody know if this is an accurate assertion?

But more important to me is whether Iraq will gain stability from it's oil economically. If it does and the whole area doesn't go off on one, then the US will have at least some cold comfort from the war.

 

[russ_watters]

I heard someone say that the US stands to lose money financially form Iraq, anybody know if this is an accurate assertion?

Of course: the US cannot use Iraqi money for our rebuilding efforts, much less to finance the war. That's from a law passed shortly after the invasion (which, frankly, I am against).

 

[SOS2008]

I was wondering about this and haven't had the chance to look into it. Who is getting the money from the Iraqi oil sold? They are supposed to be at ~50% of pre-war production levels. And who is monitoring oil production and sales?

The black hole of graft and corruption is old news. For example, here is an article from last year:

July 14, 2005 edition

Why Iraq oil money hasn't fueled rebuilding
Smugglers and thieves are stealing profits from oil even as insurgents work to keep the nation unstable.

By Howard LaFranchi | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – First, the good news: With oil prices at record highs, Iraq is on track to bring in $20 billion or more in oil revenue this year. That may sound like a lot of petrodollars, especially for a war-torn country with tremendous needs in infrastructure repair and services delivery.

But the bad news is that very little, if any, of that money will actually be used in the country's stalled reconstruction - despite past lofty predictions that oil-rich Iraq would be financially self-sufficient by now.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0714/p02s01-woiq.html

Rather than try to find solutions to this problem along with so many other, overwhelming problems, Americans have reached a point where they just want to leave Iraq altogether.

Of course: the US cannot use Iraqi money for our rebuilding efforts, much less to finance the war. That's from a law passed shortly after the invasion (which, frankly, I am against).

I'm not sure what law you are referring to, but I do know oil is to remain nationalized regardless of assistance from American oil companies. If Iraq has been left to manage the revenues by themselves, I agree this is a mistake, though I don't know who I would feel confidence in. Here is a more recent article to that end:

Tuesday, 25 April 2006

Iraq oil hit by graft and attacks

Iraq's oil industry is being crippled by corruption at a time when insurgents have stepped up attacks on the nation's infrastructure, a report has claimed.

The Oil Ministry's inspector general Ali al-Alaak said graft and smuggling are the main threat to Iraq's economy.

He called on policymakers to better protect infrastructure such as pipelines and catch corrupt officials.

Iraq has the world's third-largest oil reserves and the revenue from its sale is needed to rebuild the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4944814.stm

If Iraq can't get its act together and take control of these revenues (20 billion + in 2005), why should American tax payers foot the bill to rebuild? Especially when we are feeling pain because of the price of oil for our needs.