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Iraq
Iraq, China to Revive 1997 Oil Deal
2006-10-29
Hat tip Orrin Judd.
BEIJING -- China and Iraq are reviving a $1.2 billion deal signed by Beijing and Saddam Hussein's government in 1997 to develop an Iraqi oil field, Baghdad's oil minister said Saturday.

Officials will meet next month to renegotiate the agreement over the al-Ahdab field, said Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani. He was wrapping up a three-nation tour to secure investment for Iraq's oil industry. "If agreement is reached very quickly then I expect them to start working right away," al-Shahristani said at a news conference.
This might be a reasonable deal. The Chinese will pump cash into the country; perhaps having another paying customer will calm the south down a little.
State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. signed the al-Ahdab deal in the midst of U.N. sanctions that barred direct dealings with Iraq's oil industry. Beijing was waiting for sanctions to end when the U.S. invasion in 2003 overthrew Saddam's government. The new Baghdad government courted Beijing because Chinese producers have been willing to invest in Angola, Sudan and other countries considered too dangerous or politically isolated.
Posted by:Steve White

#6  Also, the Chinese make compatible spare parts for most of the Iraqi Army's ex-Soviet equipment. This could be a twofer for both sides : oil and parts sales for the Chinese, oil field development with security as well as spare parts for the Iraqis.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2006-10-29 18:28  

#5  But that would be wrong.
Posted by: Shipman   2006-10-29 11:49  

#4  Part of me sez we should make a happy gift to the chinee, like Panama writ large. All happy.
Posted by: Shipman   2006-10-29 11:49  

#3  As long as it's not the old 'underwear on the head' torture, Shieldwolf.

Waitaminute! You can't harvest organs from a living awake individuals!

Unless the Geneva Convention doesn't prohibit it, of course.
Posted by: Bobby   2006-10-29 07:57  

#2  Actually this could prove interesting for the Iraqi situation, since the Chinese have never hesitated to put several thousand troops on the ground to protect the oil fields that they develop. And believe me, the Chinese give less than a f**k about human rights and all that jazz when it comes to protecting the fields, the pipelines, and the shipping terminals. They will do whatever is necessary to extract information from someone that they feel is threatening their interests, up to and include harvesting organs from living awake individuals.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2006-10-29 02:26  

#1  My feeling is that a lot of money is changing hands under the table. This was one of the big mistakes Bush made. Instead of reworking the country like Truman did to both Germany and Japan, he listened to people who urged him to let Iraqis start running things immediately.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2006-10-29 01:50  

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