Iraqi oil ministry under the watchful eye of U.S. soldiers

By Imam Eliethy, IOL Iraq Correspondent

BAGHDAD , May 25 (IslamOnline.net) – The employees of Iraqi oil ministry came to their work once again to find that that the hard discs of their computers had disappeared.

“It is a strange phenomenon…The hard disks of some 200 computers, which stands idle right now, totally disappeared,” Mahmoud al-Tamimi – an oil ministry employee - told IslamOnline.net Saturday, May 24, adding that U.S. soldiers were guarding the entrances and exits of the ministry after the downfall of the Iraqi capital on April 9.

These hard discs are very important “because they contain a myriad of strategic and classified information on the Iraqi oil sector. They also contain graphics and blueprints for future oil establishments, pipe lines and reservoirs,” Tamimi said.

“Not to mention the volume of Iraqi oil strategic reserves, contracts hammered out the former regime and oil companies and relevant international agreements,” he added.

“I do not think, to my way of thinking, that the looters who came hard on the heels of U.S. occupation of Baghdad were capable of storming the ministry’s premises under the watchful eye of the U.S. soldiers patrolling the building,” he said, referring implicitly that it was the U.S. soldiers who stole such important discs.

“And even if they gained entrée into the building, they are no familiar with such state-of-the-art equipment…The thieves (of theses discs) were fully aware of their inestimable value,” he added.

Information officials with the ministry denied Tamimi and IOL correspondent access to see the looted computers, arguing that Tamimi was not authorized to deal with reporters.

Tamimi accused the Americans of “re-molding the old Baathists in the ministry the way it suit them.”

“Among the six people who run the oil committee in the ministry are two senior Baathists.”

Breaking Ranks With OPEC

Dr. Osama al-Ani, a professor of economics in the Baghdad-based Al-Mustansiria University , told IOL that the United States was doing everything possible to make Iraq break ranks with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

“It means that Iraq would not comply with the allotted production quotas under the pretext of covering the expenditure of re-building the war-scarred country and settling its debts ranging from $200 to 400 billion,” Ani said.

“In consequence, oil prices will take a downward trajectory and leave Arab oil revenues in shambles, which will also undermine OPEC.”

Flows of Iraqi oil -- the world's second-largest oil reserves -- to the world market unconstrained by OPEC quotas could further erode the cartel's ability to set prices and might even trigger a price war, eating into the profits of its member countries.

European analysts charged that Washington , by exploiting the Iraq war, was seeking to break OPEC and particularly the world's largest oil producers, Saudi Arabia , Kuwait and Iran .

The United States and Britain worked assiduously at the United Nations to win broad international consensus for a resolution to lift economic sanctions on Iraq , in order to begin selling oil to “finance reconstruction.”

On Thursday, May 22, the United Nations Security Council voted to lift crippling sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 and put its economy under the broad control of the U.S.-led occupying forces.

The council voted 14-0 to lift the 13-year-old U.N. sanctions immediately, adopting Resolution 1483.