Skip to content

Syria – Features

So it was all about oil in Iraq after all

  • by

Oil giants return to Iraq – Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Total set to sign deal with Baghdad

By Patrick Cockburn

(source:  www.independent.co.uk)

Nearly four decades after the four biggest Western oil companies were expelled from Iraq by Saddam Hussein, they are negotiating their return. By the end of the month, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Total will sign agreements with the Baghdad government, Iraq’s first with big Western oil firms since the US-led invasion in 2003.

The deals are for repair and technical support in some of the country’s largest oilfields, the Oil Ministry in Baghdad said yesterday. The return of "Big Oil" will add to the suspicions of those in the Middle East who claimed that the overthrow of Saddam was secretly driven by the West’s desire to gain control of Iraq’s oil. It will also be greeted with dismay by many Iraqis who fear losing control of their vast oil reserves.

Iraq’s reserves are believed to be second only to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, but their exploitation has long been hampered by UN sanctions, imposed on Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Read More »So it was all about oil in Iraq after all

Cnns objectivity questioned in sacking of mideast reporter

  • by

By Eli Clifton

(source: AntiWar.com)

CNN’s firing of Octavia Nasr, the editor responsible for the network’s Middle East coverage, over a Twitter post in which she expressed her sadness over the death of a Lebanese cleric has set off a firestorm of debate about what the decision says about CNN’s fairness in reporting on the region.

On Sunday, Nasr wrote, "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah… One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot," on her Twitter account, which is followed by over 7,000 readers.

Fadlallah was an inspirational figure for Lebanese Shiites and an early supporter of Hezbollah. Fadlallah, who initially supported the use of suicide bombings as a means of resistance against the occupation of Lebanon and Palestine, later criticized Hezbollah for its close ties to Iran, as well as Ayatollah Khomeini’s velayet- e faqih "rule of the clerics." which Khomeini imposed in Iran in 1979.

Read More »Cnns objectivity questioned in sacking of mideast reporter