Who is Bombing in Iraq?

from : http://www.globalresearch.ca

Are the bombers Al-Qaeda, the CIA or Israel? by Christopher King
Global Research, May 14, 2010
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Christopher King argues that it is likely that the American CIA – or Israel acting on its behalf – is responsible for recent atrocities in Iraq, in order to extend and consolidate the occupation, just as it is probable that the Times Square bomber was, wittingly or otherwise, acting for the CIA or Israel, to justify the US military intervention in South Asia. On 10 May there were more than two dozen bombings and shootings in Iraq that killed at least 85 people and injured at least 300.These were coordinated attacks, clearly by the same organization. The American response to this and other recent attacks is to delay plans for withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Obama’s election promise was to withdraw troops from Iraq by May this year. Not only is that obviously not going to happen but we learned after his election that “withdrawal” meant leaving 50,000 troops as ‘trainers’ as well as 4,500 special forces and tens of thousands of para-military contractors. Now, the US is reviewing even the slipped drawdown schedule out of concern for the security of the Iraqi people. Considering the million killed by the US and the four to five million refugees created by them I would not have thought that they would be bothered by fewer than one hundred dead in a little internal trouble. It might be said to be an improvement on US outcomes. As these attacks are providing the US with an excuse for delaying even its token withdrawal however, we need to think about who is behind them. I wrote on 20 April that the probability is that the United States Central Intelligence Agency is behind these attacks, using local groups. It’s dirty tricks of this sort that the CIA does and is well financed by the US government to do. The US will never leave Iraq while there is oil in the ground, as I said in April 2008. I’m amazed that the media and even the US anti-war brigade still have faith that leaving will happen. The US didn’t go there in the first place, nor build its fortresses, in order to leave. As it happens, however, the elections to keep their puppet in place did not go to plan. This latest series of attacks on top of a long series of lesser but still deadly attacks is not the work of a small group. It’s a large, well disciplined, well financed group with substantial support. The usual unnamed officials of unspecified nationality say that Al-Qaeda is doing the attacks. Well they would, wouldn’t they? Am I mistaken in recalling that General David Petraeus’s great success in Iraq was the elimination of Al-Qaeda? Or was that only while he was paying the Awakening Councils to go after them – if indeed Al-Qaeda was ever in Iraq at all. Since the Iraq invasion itself was based on a pack of lies there is no reason to believe anything that we are subsequently told about what is happening there or anywhere else where the US is involved. Actually, even people on the ground in Iraq often don’t know who is doing what and allegiances are constantly changing. It’s suggested that Al-Qaeda doesn’t want the Americans to leave because the cost of the occupation is damaging America. There are also Iraqi groups who have done well out of the occupation and would like to see the Americans stay. Whether any of these groups would be capable of attacks on this scale, or would be willing to carry them out, is doubtful. I don’t buy Al-Qaeda. That’s the standard US scare story and it’s worn out, like the dozens of accusations that Iran was behind the Iraqi resistance and supplying arms and bomb technology without a scrap of evidence. All propaganda and rubbish – like Saddam’s nuclear programme, his weapons of mass destruction, his collaboration with Al-Qaeda, his mobile chemical laboratories. All now officially certified lies. This is certain: the US invasion caused extraordinary devastation in Iraq and its continued presence is the problem for Iraqis. It’s most likely that because they have no intention of leaving, it’s the US itself that is behind the attacks. Or maybe the Israelis on their behalf, using locally organized groups. Yes, the Israelis are in Iraq and they have no love for Arabs. In 2005 they were reported to be training Kurds in northern Iraq, now a semi-autonomous region. Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, who was blamed for the atrocities in Abu Ghraib prison, said that she was shocked to meet an Israeli interrogator in Iraq. There’s plenty of scope here for deniability on the part of both the US army and the CIA which sometimes gets asked questions. With the Israeli-US axis operating in Iraq anything is possible. The Israelis are beginning to pop up in trouble spots such as Georgia where they were “trainers” as well. The Israelis, CIA, US and UK military all regularly assassinate suspected militants along with innocent men, women and children. They consider no-one to be innocent. Nor would false-flag provocations be beyond the US-Israeli axis. On 8 June 1967 the Israelis attempted to sink the USS Liberty in an attack that left 34 American sailors dead and 173 wounded. The American Department of Defence colluded with Israel. It recalled fighter aircraft that had been launched from a nearby carrier to give assistance and probably co-planned the incident. The crew was threatened and warned not to talk about the attack. This was clearly a false flag attack that was bungled, the probable intention to blame the Syrians or Egyptians with willingness of the US to sacrifice its own ship and crew. For the story, visit the Liberty Veterans’ Association website or read their report. The US-Israeli axis operates deeper than Americans or Europeans realize and we must be prepared to follow their thinking. Why should we believe that the Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, was briefed by the Pakistani Taliban – even if he believes it himself? Did they show him their membership cards, perhaps? Perhaps his Pakistani handlers were Taliban-certified by someone of reliable reputation and good character? I prefer a group backed by the CIA which is now publicly known to be active in Pakistan and who would like to supply evidence of the Taliban’s wish to attack the US itself. It justifies their atrocities and keeps the war going. Faisal Shahzad’s crude construct didn’t explode and it wasn’t going to. It wasn’t even a bomb – just some petrol cans, propane cylinders, fireworks and fertilizer of the wrong sort for bomb-making. A nuisance but harmless. He had never been trained by a real bomb-maker or if he was, the crude construct was intended to merely burn. Remember the USS Liberty when you read these accounts. These people think that it’s clever to get others to do their dirty work for them or better still, to suborn nationals of their target countries. Empires are only possible if collaborators with the occupiers can be found – and it’s never difficult. The Palestinians have Mahmoud Abbas, Iran had the Shah, Afghanistan has Karzai, Iraq has Maliki, the UK had Anthony Blair and Gordon Brown as well as the collaboration of most of the UK’s political class both in the US’s wars of aggression and its occupation of the UK with its bases. Our government has changed but as the French say, plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose (more change, more of the same thing). We are getting a constant stream of conflicting messages from the Americans and our own war criminals whom they have suborned: they’re leaving Iraq and Afghanistan soon but at the same time are in it for the long haul of 10 years or so. The purpose of this apparent nonsense is to give everyone something that they can hear and believe in while shutting out what they don’t want to hear. These messages have collaborating psychologists’ fingerprints on them. This is a critical time when we need men of honesty and goodwill who will act for the good of the UK and Europe. That means leaving the Middle East and detaching from America and its crimes. Some countries are finding out how leech-like this parasitic country holds on. The Japanese in Okinawa are finding that the US won’t remove its bases on request. Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have called for the removal of US nuclear weapons from Europe. The US says that this is an issue for NATO to decide and an unnamed official says: “Single countries shouldn’t be coming forward with decisions or unilateral reviews.” So there you have it. With the NATO First Act of the United States, getting the US, its bases and its nuclear weapons out of Europe will be found to be impossible when Europeans realize that it is necessary. This extraordinary Act has it that either the US Congress or host countries can have US bases closed or redeploy nuclear weapons. Well, already it seems that individual countries can’t ask for nuclear weapons to be removed from their soil. Once on the statute books, it’s a small step to make either into both – and that seems to be the case already. You might think that the present economic crisis and Middle Eastern war situation is bad. It’s actually much worse than that. Do you think that the US wouldn’t do in Europe what it’s doing in the Middle East? What it has done in Guantanamo? The crimes it has Europe’s politicians collaborating in? And who got the money from the worthless derivatives that our banks bought and European taxpayers are paying for? Europe’s politicians are either paralyzed in a state of wilful blindness and denial or they can view with equinamity the Wikileaks Collateral Murder video and think that they and their families will be looked after no matter what the crimes – like Anthony Blair. With America under economic and geopolitical pressures of its own making, the future for Europe is every bit as bad as it is for other countries that the US occupies. We should recall the crimes of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, among which was the torture and murder of about 7,000 persons in the Santiago Stadium in 1973, outlined in this Washington Post obituary. What the newspaper neglects to mention is that the United States was Pinochet’s backer. Christopher King is a retired consultant and lecturer in management and marketing. He lives in London, UK.
Global Research Articles by Christopher King

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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LOTs last Post for 2009 : A Tribute to Saddam Hussein

from : http://www.uruknet.info

by Husayn Al-Kurdi

December 31, 2009 This is the third anniversary of the martyrdom of Iraq President Saddam Hussein. It is an occasion to reflect on his qualities and qualifications as the greatest of Arab resisters and the most unwavering champion of the Arab nation. We may do so by citing authoritative and eloquent Islamic, Arab and even American sources, as well as the words of the man himself, as he addressed Americans and his fellow Iraqis from captivity and as he faced his martyrdom. We will begin with the Editor of the Islamic "New Trend", Dr. Kaukab Siddique, who outlined and summarized Saddam's heroic struggle in the following terms: "Under the most severe sanctions and embargo in the history of modern times, he kept the Iraqi people united and refused to surrender Iraq's sovereignty... "Saddam knew that the U.S. had decided to attack Iraq with overwhelming military force but he refused to surrender. Russia offered him a chance to spend the rest of his life in luxury in a dacha in the Crimea but he refused. "Owing to Saddam's persistent support for the Palestinian people and for martyrdom operations against Israel, every Zionist Jew in America, from professor to politician, raised a storm of dirty propaganda against him. It was evident that International Jewry would destroy Iraq. "The choice before Saddam was to die like a lion or live like a jackal. He decided to die like a lion. "Famed U.S. novelist (Tom) Clancy, closely connected to the military establishment, revealed that the U.S. tried to kill Saddam 33 times during the sanctions decade before the war. "When the massive bombardment of Baghdad known as 'Shock and Awe' began, the primary target was Saddam. A superpower was trying to kill the President of a sovereign nation. Saddam decided to go down fighting. "When the U.S. actually captured Baghdad and occupied Iraq with 135,000 heavily-armed troops with tremendous firepower, Saddam went underground and continued to lead the Resistance. The President had become the Mujahedeen, a first in modern Arab history! Saddam's sons and his grandson went down fighting against the occupation forces. "After nearly nine months of fighting, the Americans captured Saddam. Among his meager possessions was a little notebook in which he kept account of every dollar he spent in the Jihad. Such was his honesty. "During the show trial which was held to 'convict' the mujahid President, it became apparent that the charges against him were bogus. His attorneys were terrorized and the witnesses against him remained concealed. He stood strong throughout the trial, constantly seeking inspiration from the Qur'an and urging the Iraqi people to resist the occupation. "Finally the U.S. arrived at its pre-determined plan to execute Saddam. This execution on 'Eid day was a slap in the face of the entire Islamic world. "Saddam went to his martyrdom with a demeanor which was so calm, spiritual and full of the light of faith in Allah that people could see what a martyr is like: unafraid, focused on the honor of Iraq and the Arab and Muslim people and admonishing his Shi'ite executioners about their shameful behavior as agents of America." Saddam's martyrdom inspired Layla Anwar, author of the blog-site "Arab Woman Blues" to address him as in these terms: "Forgive me, Sir, I am not a very sophisticated woman. I speak a simple language, the language of the heart. No one hardly ever recognizes this dialect these days. But I have a feeling that, despite all your alleged hardness, You would. "You know, my Dad before passing away said to me a few sentences that have remained with me since. He said 'My daughter, many things will come to pass in this life. You will face many trials and many errors. One thing you need to be certain of, though, don't ever lose your integrity or your dignity. The day you sell those, you will have sold your soul, and all is downhill from there. "Sir, I am proud that you have not sold either. In that, you have helped us preserve our own intact. As for the rest, don't worry about them. They will end up cited as thugs, profiteering, sectarian, opportunistic hypocrites. " What pains me most is that they succeeded in massacring yet another True Iraqi, a True Iraqi among many thousands. And that is what you are." Saddam addressed the American people directly from his captivity in a handwritten letter dated July 7th, 2006, less than six months before his martyrdom: "People of America, I address you not from weakness nor as a supplicant. I, my people, my brothers, comrades, my nation, we address you on the basis of our moral and human responsibility. I tell you that officials whom you know, and first among them your President, lied to you and deceived you and tricked you, using the media that portrayed Iraq to you as incorrigible and Saddam Hussein as a hateful dictator, and that his people hate him and are just waiting for their chance to get at him. Some of them just wallowed in lying falsehood to the point that they openly declared that the Iraqis would meet the invading armies with roses and celebration. "I know that lots of people don't do a lot of analysis; they don't have the time or the ability or the desire to do careful assessments when presented with falsified news so as to uncover the truth. The American people had no chance to inquire, for example, why, if the people of Iraq hate Saddam Hussein, how he managed to defeat the Iran of Khomeini after eight years in the aggressive war that Iran sought to impose on us under the slogan of exporting the revolution beginning with Iraq? People of America, the victory over Khomeini's Iran was not due to the short length of the war, but came only after eight years of grinding warfare in which tens of thousands fell, hundreds of thousands on the Iranian side. "If Saddam Hussein were a dictator, why did he establish a parliament with elections for the first time in the year 1980 during wartime, when there had been no parliament in Iraq since 1958? If he and his government were dictators, how could he visit schools, universities, towns and villages and spend the night with the people wherever the sun went down? How could he travel around and lead at he battle front during the day, even in the trenches in the front lines on the battlefield among the Muslim soldiers? "Yes, esteemed ladies and gentlemen, your government deceived you, and you, or rather most of you, had no chance to inquire of themselves or of others in order to discover the truth because the Zionists in the lobby who advocated the war together with some of the centers of power were deceiving you and tricking you, hiding from your eyes the real truth, exchanging the facts for falsified and slanted information. Last but not least in this regard, if Saddam Hussein were a dictator hated and despised by his people, how is it that his people endured him and why was he chosen President by referendum? "People of America, the misfortunes that have afflicted you and afflicted our Arab Nation and within it our heroic Iraqi people, including the breakdown of America's standing and reputation, were only caused by the reckless behavior of your government and by pressure from Zionism and power centers that influenced your government to commit those crimes and scandalous actions for specific ends that have nothing to do with the interests of the American people. The massacres and the blood flows in the streets and countryside of Iraq in torrents and the responsibility for that falls on America before all others. You know, or rather you have now come to learn, that neither the stooges whom the Americans brought in on board their aircraft or as shamefaced presents aboard their tanks, nor Iran, which pushed and still pushes forward those who support it and whom they support, would be able to cause the bloodshed or the destruction of the honor and the property of our people and our state had not America undertaken the aggression and invasion and issued the orders, It is still issuing orders in the Green Zone. Therefore America bears the burden of all those crimes and outrages. So, will you put an end to what is going on by using the methods of direct truth without evasion and digression, or will you invite the machine of death to continue to eat away at the flesh of Iraqis and the flesh of Americans without doing anything to resolve this?" Jeff Archer, President of the Palestine Iraq Center, distinguished American writer and investigative journalist and author of the incomparable "The Mother of All Battles", the authoritative book on the U.S. war against Iraq, brought out many little-know facts about Saddam's Arab Ba'ath Socialist Party-led government and its accomplishments in the face of the obstacles imposed by Imperialist and Zionist assaults. Besides the monumental advances in education, literacy, medicine, housing, women's rights and the welfare of children and the elderly, Archer noted: "Many western observers are not aware that Saddam Hussein was well-regarded in much of the world. Brazilians remember that thousands of their countrymen were recruited by Saddam to build the advanced highway and bridge systems that once crisscrossed Iraq. Egyptians did not forget that two million of their countrymen owned and worked land in Iraq prior to January 1991. "The Lebanese remembered the dozens of Iraqi trucks that showed up daily at the Lebanese border during that country's civil war. They were laden with food and clothing for any Lebanese person in need. The convoys' recipients included all Lebanese, not just certain factions of those battling in the civil war. Most Palestinians display a picture of Saddam Hussein on their walls. Over the years, many nations have temporarily supported the Palestinian cause, only to withdraw aid once threatened by the U.S. Saddam Hussein, even during the embargo years, supported the Palestinians with no exception, while other Arab regimes did not want to get involved because they did not want to upset their puppeteers in Washington and Tel Aviv." In his Final Will, dated 26 December 2006, four days before his execution, Saddam displayed his magnanimity and his steely resolve and commitment to Iraq and the pursuit of social justice and liberation. Speaking to the Iraqi people, he exhorted them in the following fashion: "The enemies of your country, whether they are invaders or Persians, found that (your) unity prevented them from enslaving you. Thus they drove their old-new wedge in the midst of you and the foreigners with Iraqi nationality responded; the hearts of these foreigners were wither already full of hatred or the envious in Iran filled them with hatred. "They thought (that) they would vanquish you through sowing division between you and the true sons of the people in order to weaken the will and turn the sons of the country against each other rather than turn them against the real enemies. In order to confront the real enemies, we all have to pull together, even if we act under different banners... "Brothers, mujahideen and fighters, I call on you to do this, and to abandon malice, because malice does not leave the one who harbors it any chance to be fair and just, and because it closes the minds. Malice takes the one who harbors it away from balanced thinking, correct choices, avoiding what is wrong, and prevents him from seeing the changes in the minds of those he thinks to be enemies, especially the delinquent ones who repent and go back to the true path, the path of the true people and the glorious nation. "Brothers and sisters, my sons and sons of Iraq, comrade strugglers, I call on you not to hate the peoples of the countries that have committed aggression on us. I call on you to distinguish between the decision-makers and the people. Hate only the deed. Even if someone's deeds deserve to be fought, do not hate him as a human being. Do not hate the individuals who do evil, hate only the evil deed itself, and repel that evil as it deserves." Layla Anwar summarizes the purport of Saddam's life, struggle and martyrdom as he approached the hour of supreme sacrifice: "They say you were authoritarian and totalitarian. Come and see them now. See their fascism infesting the streets. See it in every neighborhood, see it in every corner. You said Women are the pioneers of this Arab Ummah, come and look at us now. Rape has replaced sexual intercourse, censorship has replaced education and forced domestication has replaced public life. "You said Education is the sign of a Progressive Ummah. Our schools and universities are empty, and our brains drained and killed. You said Health is Free for all. Our hospitals are dilapidated and our doctors in exile. You said Kurds are our brothers, they are now trained as snipers by Israel. You said Christians and Muslims are part of this mosaic called Iraq. The Christians are fleeing by the thousands and the churches are deserted. "Look at me Sir. I am a product of this wonderful mosaic called Iraq. I am half Muslim and half Christian, and the Muslim half has Shi'as and if you dig hard enough you will find Kurdish, Armenian, Turkish, Chaldean, Arabic roots all the way back... "Where is my place now Sir? You are about to find your place soon, like a bird flying to nest into the arms of the sky, while I am left behind waiting my turn, and in the meantime searching, desperately searching for a place to rest my tired head, and finding none. "Sir, I heard they will execute You within 36 hours, in time for the 'Eid, our sacrificial feast. You did say you are willing to be sacrificed for Iraq. You still believe they are worth it. I envy your Faith. May you go in Peace now, my True Iraqi." Such a one as Saddam Hussein will never die. He will always live in the hearts and souls of the honest, suffering, dispossessed people, wherever people face slavery and oppression and whenever they fight for justice and dignity. He will abide forever, long after the Bushes, Clintons, Obamas and the predatory denizens of Congress, the Pentagon, the CIA, the State Department and Wall Street have gone to the final and lasting hell which they deserve, long after the exploiters and oppressors and their minions have rotted into oblivion. Saddam Hussein will remain and endure as a shining light, an immortal in the pantheon of the truly great, a testament and an example to all that we could be, should be and need to be if we indeed seek to better ourselves and our world. al-Ustadh Husayn Farajullah Zaki Al-Kurdi Muharram 13, 1431 December 30, 2009

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Surprised ? it was for the Oil ,The Iraq War finally starting to pay off : Shell Wins Rights To Iraq's Giant Manjoon Oil Fields

from : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/Buzz up

SINAN SALAHEDDIN | 12/11/09 05:26 AM |

BAGHDAD — Iraq's hope of luring international oil companies with its mother lode of oil met with mixed results Friday, with only two deals struck as security fears appeared to weigh heavily on the country's second oil auction this year.

Of the 15 fields on offer in the first day of the two-day international licensing round, deals were struck on two fields in the relatively calm southern region of Iraq, while five located in more restive regions were withdrawn and a sixth field drew only one bid.

The lackluster showing – coming months after Iraq's largely dismal first oil licensing round – contradicted Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's upbeat tempo at the start of the auction being held at the heavily fortified oil ministry.

"There is no security deterioration in Iraq even if a security violation took place here," al-Maliki told officials and company representatives at the start of the auction.

It was clear, however, that the week's events were not soon to be forgotten by oil executives. A wave of attacks across Baghdad earlier this week killed at least 127 people and shook confidence in the abilities of Iraq security forces as U.S. troops depart

Two consortiums were quick to take al-Maliki at his word, at least in the relatively stable south – tempted by a chance to tap into one of the Middle East's last major cheap oil bonanzas. They snapped up two southern fields with combines reserves of slightly over 13 billion barrels.

But no bidders stepped up for any of the four eastern Iraq fields on offer. Those fields lie in the restive Diyala province, home to some of the country's most violent areas. No offers were submitted either for the central and northern parts of East Baghdad field in Baghdad and Salaheddin provinces, though that lack of interest could be linked as much to the fact that it lies residential districts, as well as to security fears.

A total of 45 companies, including Western giants like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Britain's BP PLC, as well as state-run companies from Asia, are competing for 15 fields that represent about a third of Iraq's 115 billion in proven reserves.

The companies must accept 20-year service contracts and receive a flat fee per barrel produced for their services instead of production-sharing contracts, which are considered more lucrative. A joint-venture structure will give the companies 75 percent and the rest to the Iraqi side that gets to keep all the profits from sales – which could be tens of millions of dollars a year for the biggest fields.

In the first deals of the day, European oil giant Shell won the rights to develop the southern Majnoon oil field – the biggest of the fields on offer in the two-day licensing round. A second consortium led by the China National Petroleum Corp., or CNPC, won the rights to the Halfaya field, also in the south.

Shell and Malaysia's state-run Petronas beat out a consortium grouping France's Total SA and China's CNPC to develop Majnoon, a 12.88 billion barrel behemoth in the Basra region.

Under the deal announced by Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani, the Shell-Petronas consortium will receive $1.39 per barrel produced from the field. The companies bid said they would raise production from the current 45,900 barrels per day to a whopping 1.8 million barrels per day over a ten-year period.

Total and CNPC had asked to receive $1.75 per barrel, while offering to raise production to roughly 1.4 million barrels per day.

In the second deal, CNPC, teaming up with Petronas and Total won rights to develop Halfaya, which has estimated reserves of 4.1 billion barrels. Under the terms of the deal, the companies will get $1.40 per barrel produced, and said they would raise production from the current 3,100 barrels per day to 535,000 barrels per day over 13 years.

The CNPC-led consortium beat out three others, which were led by Italy's Eni, Norway's Statoil ASA and India's ONGC.

The deals are crucial for Iraq, which relies on oil for 90 percent of its government budget and sorely needs international companies' help in boosting production and revamping its dilapidated oil sector.

The current fields on offer are known as "green" fields, ones which have yet to be fully developed.

The security concerns, however, were apparent.

No bids were submitted for the Qamar, Gullabat, Naudman and Khashm al-Ahmar fields in eastern Iraq, and they were withdrawn from the auction.

While these are relatively small fields, the blow was in the lack of interest in East Baghdad, which analysts say has estimated reserves of about 8 billion barrels.

Al-Maliki has sought to assure oil companies about his country's ability to secure their interests even after the withdrawal of the U.S. forces.

But the recent bombings, coupled with the lack of a national oil law, sectarian bickering within the parliament and a dispute over oil rights between the central government in Baghdad and that of the semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north, have provided little in the way of assurances.

Al-Maliki, addressing parliament Thursday, claimed that feuding between political blocs, coordination troubles between police and army, and budget cuts because of falling oil prices, have hobbled attempts to expand security operations.

In front of the oil executives, he struck an upbeat tone, underscoring that they were partners in a new Iraq.

"Developing the oil industry is definitely developing Iraqis' lives, as well as the region," al-Maliki said at the start of the auction, stressing that a stable Iraq offered the chance for greater cooperation and security in the region, as a whole.

The need for the push is clear.

The country is struggling to raise oil exports, currently in the range of roughly 2 million barrels. It relies on oil revenues for 90 percent of its government budget, and the funds are sorely needed to rebuild an infrastructure that was already hobbled under Saddam's regime, but was devastated following the 2003 invasion.

Iraq's first postwar bidding round in June flopped as firms resisted the financial provisions imposed by Iraq, which has the world's third-largest known oil reserves.

The remainder of the fields will be offered Saturday.

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

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