Review Arbella Bet-Shlimon, City of Black Gold, Oil, Ethnicity, and the making of Modern Kirkuk, Stanford University Press, 2019

  

Arbella Bet-Shlimon can be considered one of the new Iraq researchers who attempted to break free of the conventional wisdom that shaped much of the discourse about the country after 2003. Her City of Black Gold, Oil, Ethnicity, and the making of Modern Kirkuk takes a look at the political and economic development of the city from Ottoman times to the present. Rather than seeing the city as always being divided by competing ethnicities the book creates a history where Kirkuk was shaped by Turkey, England, Iraq, oil and where ethnicity changed over time.

Iraq Running Out Of Money Due To Iran War

  

The Financial Times reported on the economic crisis that the Iran War is causing for Iraq. It said that Baghdad has lost around $5.4 billion since the start of the conflict and it only has 1-2 months worth of cash to cover government salaries. The Central Bank on the other hand said its reserves could cover 12 months worth of oil exports. The problem is by law the bank can’t cover the government’s budget so it has to issue bonds or some other means to provide money. Government salaries and benefits are the largest part of the budget because adding public workers is the main means that the ruling parties have to maintain their support. Before the war Baghdad was running into problems meeting its obligations because of low oil prices. Now it is barely making any money with the Strait of Hormuz closed.

Iraq’s Water Crisis Growing Worse By The Month

 

Every week brings more bad news about Iraq’s water crisis. Four years of low rainfall and decreasing flows down the Tigris and Euphrates River have put the country on the brink of disaster. The government has failed to respond because it only gives lip service to caring about the public.

Report Of Another Deal To Re-Start Kurdish Oil Exports In Iraq

Over the last several months there have been repeated announcements that Kurdish oil exports are about to restart. Nothing happens however because there has been no resolution to the debts owed to oil companies in Kurdistan. In September that issue may finally have been resolved but official statements need to be taken with a large grain of salt because so many false claims have been made in the past.

Review Kevin McKiernan, The Kurds, A People in Search of Their Homeland, St. Martin’s Press, 2006

McKiernan, Kevin, The Kurds, A People in Search of Their Homeland, St. Martin’s Press, 2006

 

The Kurds, A People in Search of Their Homeland followed journalist Kevin McKiernan as he travelled through Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran from 1991-2005 meeting various Kurds. There’s history thrown in for background but most of it is about the friendships he formed and the events he witnessed.

Review Sam Faddis, The CIA War In Kurdistan, The Untold Story Of The Northern Front In The Iraq War, Casemate, 2020

Faddis, Sam, The CIA War In Kurdistan, The Untold Story Of The Northern Front In The Iraq War, Casemate, 2020

 

Sam Faddis was the head of a CIA team sent into Iraqi Kurdistan to help prepare for the 2003 invasion. His experience was a microcosm of how dysfunctional the entire U.S. effort was to depose Saddam Hussein. Both the White House and CIA headquarters had their set ideas about how the war was going to go and ignored what Faddis and his team were reporting. He believed this set the stage for the failed U.S. occupation of Iraq.

Turkey Still Unwilling To Open Its Oil Pipeline To Iraq’s Kurdistan

On February 17 the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Natural Resource Minister Kamal Mohammed announced that Kurdish oil exports would resume in March 2025. He said there were no more technical obstacles to stop a resumption.

Review Operation Hotel California, The Clandestine War Inside Iraq

Tucker, Mike Faddis, Charles, Operation Hotel California, The Clandestine War Inside Iraq, Guilford: The Lyons Press, 2009

 

Operation Hotel California, The Clandestine War Inside Iraq is based upon the recollections of a CIA officer who was sent into Iraqi Kurdistan in 2002 to prepare for the U.S. invasion. There are short parts by the two authors Mike Tucker and Charles Faddis but the vast majority of the book are long transcripts of the agent recollecting his experiences. The CIA agent loved working with the Kurds and felt like they accomplished a lot but he was very critical of Turkey, the CIA leadership and the Bush administration who he blames for all kinds of problems with the invasion and the postwar chaos.

Iraqi Govt And KRG Resolve Budget Dispute

On September 17 Baghdad and Irbil resolved their differences over the budget. The Sudani government agreed to send 3 monthly loans of 700 billion dinars ($538 million) starting this month. This came after Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani visited the capitol to argue for more money to deal with the region’s financial crisis. That was caused by Turkey closing down its oil pipeline which Kurdistan was dependent upon. Beforehand the KRG was earning an average of $733 million a month from oil exports. Instead of blaming Ankara for its problems Barzani focused upon the central government. That’s because Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party is aligned with Turkey and won’t go against it publicly.

Iraq Now Stating The Obvious, It’s Up To Turkey To Re-Open Oil Pipeline

(Pipeline and Gas Journal)

It took over five months for Baghdad to publicly announce that Turkey was not serious about re-opening its oil pipeline to Iraq. This was after numerous false stories that Ankara was ready to compromise.

KRG In Economic Limbo As Baghdad And Ankara Argue Over Using Turkey’s Oil Pipeline

(World Pipelines)

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is facing a brewing economic crisis which it has no ability to solve. In March the International Court of Arbitration ruled in Iraq’s favor against Turkey allowing the KRG to export oil through its pipeline. In response, Ankara shut down exports and has not been clear about what it wants in order to restart them. This is denying the Kurdistan region its major source of income.

Iraq Wins Arbitration Case Against Turkey Exporting KRG’s Oil

(Wikipedia)

At the end of March the International Court of Arbitration ruled that Turkey violated a bilateral agreement with Iraq over exporting oil for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). This was a victory for Iraq in its long standing dispute with the Kurds over its oil industry and could point to a final resolution of this problem.

PM Sudani Claims False Success In Iraq’s Water Policy

(AP)

Prime Minister Sudani recently returned from a trip to Turkey where he claimed a victory. He said that Ankara agreed to increase water flow down the Tigris for one month to try to help its neighbor. That will do little to alleviate Iraq’s chronic problems especially because Baghdad appears to have no water strategy.

Review All Roads Lead To Baghdad: Army Special Operations Forces in Iraq

 Briscoe, Charles, Finlayson, Kenneth, Jones, Robert, Jr., Walley, Cherilyn, Aaron, A. Dwayne, Mullins, Michael, Schroder, James, All Roads Lead To Baghdad: Army Special Operations Forces in Iraq, Fort Bragg: USASOC History Office, 2007

 

All Roads Lead To Baghdad: Army Special Operations Forces in Iraq is a military history meant to explain the different kinds of special units the U.S. deployed in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the variety of missions they had. It starts off with some of the causes of the Iraq War which gets many things completely wrong which were known when the book was written. Being a military book it doesn’t really deal with any politics besides what the Bush administration said. Also because it was published by the U.S. military it praises its work in Iraq. The story of specific operations are the best part of All Roads Lead To Baghdad. On the other hand, there are many sections on support of units which are not that interesting. Overall that makes the book really up and down.

Iraq’s Electricity Minister Doesn’t Seem To Know What Self-Sufficiency Means

After signing deal to import electricity from Saudi Arabia Iraq's Electricity Min said Iraq might become self-sufficient in energy in a few years (Al Mada)

The Iraqi government has a history of overpromising and underdelivering. In July Electricity Minister Adil Karim provided the latest example. He said that Iraq might become self-sufficient in electricity by 2025 provided money and natural gas to fuel power plants was provided. He went on to say that Iraq might export energy to the Gulf States and Europe.

Violence Remains At Very Low Level In Iraq In July 2022

Security remained relatively the same in Iraq in July 2022. The number of incidents by the Islamic State went slightly up from June, but they were still at a very low level. Attacks by pro-Iran groups went down. The main difference was that casualties were significantly higher in July versus June.

Review The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq

O’Leary, Brendan, McGarry, John, Salih, Khaled, Edited by, The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005

 

The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq is part out of date, part valorizing, and mostly bad. It emerged out of two conferences, one in Denmark in 2002 and a second in Washington D.C. in 2003. Nearly half of the book is about what the Kurds should have asked for under the new constitution which was decided in 2005. Then there are chapters that are irrelevant because they are just cheerleading. That means there are very few sections worth reading making the book unnecessary.

2021 In Iraq In Review

(AFP)

End of Iraq’s Protest Movement

 

2021 marked the end of Iraq’s protest movement. In January a Nasiriya activist was arrested as part of a government crackdown which restarted demonstrations in the city. The crowds would demand the Dhi Qar governor step down. He responded by calling out the police which used force leading to twelve people being killed. The violence would eventually lead the governor to resign in February and the protests to end afterward. In May an activist was assassinated in Karbala leading to demonstrations there. This would start the call to boycott the 2021 elections. This split the movement and ended the protests.

Security In Iraq Nov 15-21, 2021

Security has remained relatively the same for the last nine weeks. Attacks by the Islamic State have been in the teens to tens while incidents by Pro-Iran groups have fallen off since the October elections.

Review Turkey, the US and Iraq

Hale, William, Turkey, the US and Iraq, London, Berkeley, Beirut: SAQI, 2007

 

Turkey, the US and Iraq by William Hale is a history of Turkish-Iraq relations and the role of the United States from the foundation of Iraq in 1920 to the start of the U.S. occupation. Hale believes the relations between Turkey and Iraq went through three main phases. First, Turkey laid claim to northern Iraq after World War I. Then the Kurds became a major issue in the 1980s. Finally the U.S. began demanding that Turkey help it with its conflict with Iraq starting with the Gulf War and then the 2003 invasion. In the process Turkey completely changed its policy towards Iraq, which is the main point of the book.