Iraqi Oil Revenues . . . Where are they going?

[Floogeldy]

Who?

[brainshrub]

1. Good question. I talked to an Iraqi vet today.

He swears there are pipelines coming out of Iraq into Kuwait. However, the official line is that no serious amount of oil is being pumped yet.

What is the "official" line. Are we harvesting oil out of Iraq yet?

[strauss_sucks]

2. #1 Question Everyone Should be Asking

Since this is essentially the only reason we are in Iraq, I'm surprised this question doesn't receive more attention.

[Nordic]

3. well it takes a lot of money to steal an election

is all I'll say about that

[Viking12]

4. I'll give you four guesses

Halliburton, far and away the largest recipient of Iraq reconstruction dollars with about $18 billion in contracts, has seen revenues increase by 80 percent in the first quarter of 2004, compared with the same quarter of 2003, according to the Financial Times. These revenues reflect ``steep profits from their Iraq operations.''

• Next in line is the Bechtel Group of San Francisco, with nearly $3 billion in Iraq reconstruction contracts. In fact, revenues generated outside the United States have increased by 158 percent since 2003 for Bechtel -- turning around a three-year slump in that category.

• San Ramon, Calif.-based ChevronTexaco has a contract to market Iraqi oil. Its profits have increased 90 percent during the first half of 2004 compared with the same period in 2003, for a total increase of more than $3 billion.

* Not surprisingly, some of the profits generated by the war in Iraq appear to be making their way into Republican Party coffers. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, each of these corporations was among the leaders in its industry in 2003-2004 election-cycle contributions, with most of the donations going to Republicans.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/10280908.htm?1c