LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Iraq: New Iraq
built 656 days ago
Iraq's economy is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings. In the 1980s financial problems caused by massive expenditures in the eight-year war with Iran and damage to oil export facilities by Iran led the government to implement austerity measures, borrow heavily, and later reschedule foreign debt payments. Iraq suffered economic losses from the war of at least US$100 billion. After hostilities ended in 1988, oil exports gradually increased with the construction of new pipelines and restoration of damaged facilities. A combination of low oil prices, repayment of war debts (estimated at around US$3 billion a year) and the costs of reconstruction resulted in a serious financial crisis which was the main short term motivation for the invasion of Kuwait.
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![[Country Map]](http://retrieverimages.lycos.com/images/i/r/a/iraq/i/024.jpg)
Independence: On October 3, 1932, Iraq gained independence from the League of Nations Mandate under British Administration. Several coups after 1958 resulted in dictatorship. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) was established in 2003 under Multi-National Force - Iraq protections. On June 28, 2004, the CPA transferred sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government. A new four-year, constitutionally based government took office in March 2006, and a new cabinet was installed in May 2006.
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On 6 August 1990, four days after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 661, imposing on Iraq the most repressive sanctions and embargo in the history of the organization. When the Gulf War ended, the United Nations Security Council passed several new resolutions concerning Iraq. Resolution 687, passed on 3 April 1991, continued the sanctions and the embargo on Iraq until it dismantled its weapons program, including all long- and medium-range missiles, and all chemical, biological, and nuclear facilities. The dismantling was to have been implemented by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which had been inspecting Iraq for any possible military use of its nuclear facilities since the 1970s, and the newly established UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) under the chairmanship of Rolf Ekeus, a Swedish diplomat. Resolution 713 established a permanent UN monitoring system for all missile test sites and nuclear installations in the Iraq. Resolution 986, passed in 1992, allowed Iraq to sell $1.6 billion worth of oil every six months, subject to renewal, for the purchase of food and medicine.
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Iraq's new Constitution has transferred managerial responsibility for new oil operations to the regions and provinces, and allowed them to take part in the production operations management of current fields. It has ... become necessary to accurately determine the geographical distribution of hydrocarbon wealth. This May 2006 report aims to illustrate the geographic distribution of Iraqi oil and gas fields according to provinces, and to show how this would reflect on these fields’ management following the new Constitution.
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On Wednesday afternoon, Reuters' Barry Moody wrote about the news organization's contention that the military on the ground in Iraq has been "limiting the ability of independent journalists to operate." In a letter to Virginia senator John Warner, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, managing editor David Schlesinger expressed his concerns, asking that Warner convey these issues to his colleagues.
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Saving the Iraqis from totalitarian rule and Iraq's neighbors from further depredations will therefore be no easier, but ... no harder, than bringing to Iraq a policy of domestic inclusiveness. But is that possible or is Iraq doomed to repeat its wars? And if it is possible, to what extent does such inclusiveness depend on a new restructuring of the relationship between state and society?
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New Iraq