24 August 2005 Iraq’s new draft constitution, which is awaiting a final vote by the National Assembly, offers significant power to the country’s many regions in determining how to manage Iraq’s oil wealth. The draft copy of the constitution, however, remains vague on major issues regarding oil policy and future investments, opening the way to different interpretations and possibly disputes which could delay the opening up of Iraq to international…
Tag: Kurdistan
Iraqis Gather to Discuss Political Future
29 April 2003 About 300 Iraqis — most of them exiles until the recent fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime — met in Baghdad on Monday under the leadership of US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and began debating the process of setting up an interim Iraqi government. The Baghdad session is the fourth in a series that started in London in mid-December with a meeting of most political groupings of Iraqi exiles…
The Big Unknowns
18 October 2002 In 1979, the same year the US lost Iran and its oilfields to the Islamic revolution, Saddam Hussein was sworn in as president of Iraq. Twenty-three years later, the US appears poised to engage in another Mideast adventure designed to topple him. But there are a huge number of unknowns, all or any of which could turn the mission into a debacle. For Western diplomats, one of…