Earlier this year, I did a piece looking at the the scandal about Iraq's oil production and the missing revenues.
The problem in Iraq, as I pointed out at the time, is that four years into the US occupation, the handsomely-paid contractors in charge of calibrating, fixing and replacing the meters on oil terminals, Halliburton and Parsons, still haven't done the job. Which means it's impossible to calculate how many millions of dollars smugglers and corrupt officials are making while US soldiers are dying there.
Now, we are seeing how bad it is with a Government Accountability Office report, detailed in the New York Times, revealing that between 100,000 and 300,000 barrels a day of Iraq's declared oil production over the past four years is unaccounted for and that this comes out to $5 million to $15 million a day missing, no doubt pocketed by smugglers, insurgents and corrupt officials.
And Robert Ebel, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, has told The New York Times that part of the problem is the lack of meters.
Given everything we've seen about Iraq debacle, this should be no surprise. But with the entire economy of Iraq dependent on oil revenues, and with the thousands dying there in the name of nation-building, this is a scandal and disgrace.
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