The Oil Spoils

Under cover of darkness in the early morning hours of March 18, Qusay Saddam Hussein carted off nearly $1 billion in hard currency from Iraq's central bank. The hasty withdrawal as war was about to begin ranks as the "grandest larceny in bank history," to quote columnist William Safire. Two months later an even larger heist took place, this time in the bold light of public diplomacy.

On May 22 the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution lifting trade sanctions on Iraq. The resolution ended nearly thirteen years of economic strangulation and freed the Iraqi economy from the trade and investment barriers that have caused widespread economic misery and social suffering. But the resolution also placed the ultimate prize--control of Iraqi oil revenues--firmly in the hands of the United States.

The resolution creates a "Development Fund for Iraq" into which all remaining funds in the UN oil-for-food account (estimated at $13 billion) and all future proceeds from Iraqi oil sales (up to $20 billion a year) are to be deposited. The fund, according to the resolution, "shall be used in a transparent manner to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, for the economic reconstruction and repair of Iraq's infrastructure, for the continued disarmament of Iraq...and for other purposes benefiting the people of Iraq." The "people of Iraq" will have no say in these matters, however: Disbursements from the fund are to be made in "consultation with the Iraqi interim administration," but actual control of the fund will rest solely with the US-led "Authority"--defined as the unified command of the US-British occupation force.

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