Iraq Industry

Exported oil and imported food, the twin pillars of the Iraqi economy, have been choked by the U.N. trade embargo. But it's the loss of the little things--gaskets, fuses, switches--that threatens to bring Iraq's industry to its knees. Economic analysts predict that the country's small but vital industrial sector will begin breaking down by the end of the year.

Iraq may open its potentially lucrative oil business to foreign investors by the end of the year, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said after a day of meetings with Iraqi counterparts in Baghdad. "Iraq will only realize its very considerable potential as an oil producer with the help of investors," he said. "They need to pass a hydrocarbon law under which foreign companies can invest."

Baghdad unveiled a new tractor Saturday and named it al-Nida'a (the call), after the day it invaded Kuwait. Iraq named Aug. 2, 1990, "the day of the call," saying it sent troops into Kuwait in response to a call for help from the "Provisional Free Kuwait Government."

Alwan Abdal Razzaq, a balding man in a green suit, holds up a vial of opaque fluid. "This is the queen's food," says the 47-year-old beekeeper. "It is $20 for a vial." Known here as a miracle cure for everything from arthritis to headaches, royal jelly, the sickly sweet substance that bees feed to a larva to turn it into a queen, is a valuable commodity in rural Iraq, where folk remedies are a common alternative to modern medicine.

The economic noose of U.N. trade sanctions, imposed 16 weeks ago to squeeze Iraq out of Kuwait, has begun to pinch here but not choke. While President Saddam Hussein's government cannot sell its oil and only a trickle of contraband is filtering across its borders, necessities remain available--at a price. It's the prices that have Baghdadis grumbling.

Iraq may open its potentially lucrative oil business to foreign investors by the end of the year, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said after a day of meetings with Iraqi counterparts in Baghdad. "Iraq will only realize its very considerable potential as an oil producer with the help of investors," he said. "They need to pass a hydrocarbon law under which foreign companies can invest."

Alwan Abdal Razzaq, a balding man in a green suit, holds up a vial of opaque fluid. "This is the queen's food," says the 47-year-old beekeeper. "It is $20 for a vial." Known here as a miracle cure for everything from arthritis to headaches, royal jelly, the sickly sweet substance that bees feed to a larva to turn it into a queen, is a valuable commodity in rural Iraq, where folk remedies are a common alternative to modern medicine.

Amid concerns over U.S. intentions toward Iraq's oil, a retired American oilman, an Iraqi expatriate and a Baghdad insider were named Saturday to try to reconcile potentially conflicting priorities in the postwar energy industry. Oil experts said the appointments, made by the United States, represented an attempt to strike a balance among the competing interests -- and egos -- of U.S. officials, Iraqi exiles and petroleum professionals who remained in the country.

Pentagon auditors have questioned nearly $122 million in costs claimed by Halliburton Co. under contracts to rebuild Iraq's oil industry and supply fuel to its citizens, according to audits released by a Democratic congressman. Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles said the Bush administration had withheld the questioned amount from the United Nations board overseeing Iraq reconstruction. "Halliburton has been a good steward of the taxpayers' dollars," company spokeswoman Beverly Scippa said.

Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region officially started pumping crude oil to the international market. The move could bolster the Kurds' political clout and ease tension with the central government that has threatened to erupt into new violence. Kurdish leaders hailed the exports as a chance to make up for lost time in Iraq's oil industry. The country sits on one of the world's largest known oil reserves, but the industry has been devastated by sanctions, war, sabotage and insurgent attacks as well as the inability of Iraqi politicians to agree on an oil and revenue-sharing law.

Amid concerns over U.S. intentions toward Iraq's oil, a retired American oilman, an Iraqi expatriate and a Baghdad insider were named Saturday to try to reconcile potentially conflicting priorities in the postwar energy industry. Oil experts said the appointments, made by the United States, represented an attempt to strike a balance among the competing interests -- and egos -- of U.S. officials, Iraqi exiles and petroleum professionals who remained in the country.

Baghdad unveiled a new tractor Saturday and named it al-Nida'a (the call), after the day it invaded Kuwait. Iraq named Aug. 2, 1990, "the day of the call," saying it sent troops into Kuwait in response to a call for help from the "Provisional Free Kuwait Government."

The economic noose of U.N. trade sanctions, imposed 16 weeks ago to squeeze Iraq out of Kuwait, has begun to pinch here but not choke. While President Saddam Hussein's government cannot sell its oil and only a trickle of contraband is filtering across its borders, necessities remain available--at a price. It's the prices that have Baghdadis grumbling.

Exported oil and imported food, the twin pillars of the Iraqi economy, have been choked by the U.N. trade embargo. But it's the loss of the little things--gaskets, fuses, switches--that threatens to bring Iraq's industry to its knees. Economic analysts predict that the country's small but vital industrial sector will begin breaking down by the end of the year.

Firefighters fought a massive oil pipeline blaze Friday in northern Iraq after insurgents detonated explosives on the line that stretches from fields southwest of Kirkuk to a refinery in Baiji. Officials at the Northern Oil Co. decided to temporarily stop pumping oil to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, fearing that the fire from Thursday's sabotage could spread to the key pipeline running to the port, said Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin of the Iraqi national guard in Kirkuk.

U.S. aerospace industry sales will rise in 2004 for the first time in three years, helped by higher military spending related to the fighting in Iraq, an industry group said. The sales will increase $1 billion, or less than 1%, to $148.1 billion, said the Aerospace Industries Assn., a Washington-based group whose 81 members include Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and competitors. Sales this year fell to $147.1 billion from $153.4 billion in 2002.