Predictions are coming true. . . .
From: TomDispatch
October 7, 2004
"The reason oil prices have been hovering around $50 ( in 2004! ) a barrel now, is that most of these Iraqi exports disappeared just as oil consumption began to skyrocket around the world."
The Iraqis themselves, situated on one of the globe's great oil reservoirs, are at present forced to import gasoline and other petroleum products from elsewhere over ever more dangerous supply lines. The sabotaging of the Iraqi oil infrastructure by insurgents is now widespread. According to Ibrahim, "At last count, the northern pipeline that carries oil to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan has been blown up 37 times in 12 months."
Oil Wars
Transforming the American Military into a Global Oil-Protection Service
By Michael T. Klare
(complete article can be found at: Tomdispatch