Iraq/Kurdistan: War in Iraq and the Plunder of Kurdish Oil

Jan 26, 2018 | Erin Banco, Newsweek
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Iraqi Kurdistan seems to be a classic example of the resource curse. Oil is found, pumped, shipped and sold (and sometimes stolen). Regimes, politicians, ministers and companies come and go. And yet the average person benefits marginally if not at all. The chaos of war, terrorism and political infighting explains some of this. For the Kurds, greed and fraud, tolerated if not abetted by U.S. and multinational oil companies, lie at the center of their dashed oil dreams. The curse is one shared by those living under the leadership of the central government, though that story—one filled with fraud and mismanagement—reads much differently.