Please...while you are busy leaving Iraq

What an opportunity we seem to have missed!

Daniel Smith in “Politicians cannot control Nigeria’s corruption crusade”, FT April 12, writes about Nigeria saying “its politics remains a stark scramble for power in which elites compete for domination of the state apparatus to reap the benefits of control over enormous oil revenues”, and so in fact little does the crusade againts corruption matter anyhow, especially while oil prices remain high. As is, the Nigerians now elect a government to whom hand over the oil revenues that in reality belongs to themselves, only to have to spend the next couple of years licking boots in order to get some of that same oil money back, while the elected government officials, arrogantly, not in need of other tax income, couldn’t care less about them.

It is only when you get to understand this that you really get a feeling for what a wonderful opportunity the world seems to have lost in Iraq. Can you imagine what having helped to channel the oil revenues directly to the Iraqi citizens in a transparent way could have done? That could really have been called democracy building, and the setting of a great example for the citizens of Nigeria, Venezuela and all the other oil cursed nations to follow.

Four Years and Counting in Iraq: Regarding "Lessons of War"

Regarding "Lessons of War"

The Post should be commended for not describing the extremely difficult way forward in simplistic terms. Having said that, the editorial should have given more attention to the role of oil, not because of its obvious energy significance but because it is an obstacle to good governance in Iraq.

The editorial said, "We may have underestimated the impoverishment brought about by misrule and sanctions and the brutalization born of totalitarian cruelty." But the sentence should have continued: ". . . that thrives especially well in countries cursed by large amounts of oil revenue flowing to a central government, eliminating any chance for a sustainable democracy."

Coming from Venezuela, where oil revenue is centralized, I know that loyalties to country, tribe and sect are all irrelevant compared with the unnatural loyalty that can be purchased by those in control of a checkbook fattened by oil. If the United States wants to achieve anything going forward, it had better find a way to distribute Iraq's oil revenue directly to the Iraqi people.

Per Kurowski

Bethesda

Published in Washington Post

PS. Here my minimum minimorum suggestion on when exiting Iraq

The Iraq Study Group Report’s as close at it gets silver bullet

The Iraq Study Group Report’s perhaps most important yet least discussed recommendation is “redistributing a portion of oil revenues directly to the population on a per capita basis” as it has “the potential to give all Iraqi citizens a stake in the nation’s chief natural resource” which could only foster a national identity and help stimulate the search for normality. Besides, given that the price of gas in Iraq is so low that you can fill your tank with less than two dollars, which of course is the source of much corruption, the sharing in the additional revenues that a price increase of gas would generate provides the political support for such difficult but necessary action.

We were told not to expect any silver bullet from the Report but in my opinion this revenue sharing program is a close to one as it gets. Implementing such a program in a transparent way, with the help of the World Bank, could also have far-reaching consequences for fighting all the other oil curses around the world.

What does recommendation number 28 really mean?

The Iraq Study Group Report suggests in recommendation number 2 to “Support the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq” which makes it somewhat difficult to understand the real meaning of number 28 when it says “Oil revenues should accrue to the central government and be shared on the basis of population”, since how do you share if there is only one central government? Now, if what they actually propose is that the oil income should be shared by the population directly on a per capita basis, this would indeed be a much welcomed proposition, given that we all know how impossible it is to construe a real democracy when oil revenues go directly to central government coffers and with it makes a mockery of any balance of power in the society. In the chaotic Iraq trusting the Iraqi people with their oil revenues is wiser than trusting any central government with it.

The only thing left to do in Iraq

The recently published Iraq Study Group Report says “There are proposals to redistribute a portion of oil revenues directly to the population on a per capita basis. These proposals have the potential to give all Iraqi citizens a stake in the nation’s chief natural resource”.

Since we all know that when oil revenues go directly to government coffers this makes it more difficult for society to reach a fair balance of powers among all its participants, these proposals also carried within them the best chances for construing an effective and lasting democracy.

Unfortunately some will seems to be lacking since the report also includes some really poor objections as “Oil revenues have been incorporated into state budget projections for the next several years. There is no institution in Iraq at present that could properly implement such a distribution system. It would take substantial time to establish, and would have to be based on a well-developed state census and income tax system, which Iraq currently lacks.”

In fact, compared with most of all the other challenges that faces Iraq today, to develop a fair and transparent per capita oil revenue sharing system, should be relatively easy and I believe that the World Bank has the required capabilities to successfully complete such mission.

And besides, after helping to free the Iraqi people from those who oppressed it, is not helping them to gain access to their own resources the only thing left to do?

Iraq needs mercenaries for peace

As Venezuelans know so well, it is impossible to build a real democracy upon abundant oil. Democracy is about creating a level playing field, and, therefore, if you want a real chance at democracy in an oil-rich land like Iraq, you need first to distribute their oil revenues equally among all their citizens. For Iraq, distributing their oil revenues upfront, in cash, would carry a special significance since not only would it help to solve the problem of their oil being located only in some parts of the country, but it would also foster an additional bond of national identity among all the Iraqis, be they Sunnis, Shiites, or Kurds. The possibility for each citizen to receive perhaps a couple of thousand dollars a year would promote interest in reaching normality. The World Bank could be the perfect candidate to help implement a very transparent sharing of the oil revenues for Iraq.

In a world where so frequently mercenaries are used for wars, why don’t we help Iraq contract their own citizens, using their own money, to be mercenaries for peace?