How does the fact that Iraq has oil affect the country?

Answer 1

Some would argue that we went to war there to secure oil. Not directly, perhaps, but by removing a tyrant whose presence destabilized the region, which is the location of the largest petrolium reserves on the planet.

The Middle East is often referred to as a "cradle of civilization" because there is some wonderfully supportive geographical and climatic conditions there that favor human habitation. It could be said that most of the ancient (pre-Greek) civilizations originated there. (Man is believed by many to have come from Africa and into the Middle East before moving on to the east, west and north.) There is a lot of early world history that records and speaks to both the power and the economic centers in and around the Middle East. Civilization then "moved out" and left the (largely) hot, dusty region behind. In the 20th century, the Middle East was found to have huge petroleum deposits beneath its arid wastes. The "modern" world ran on oil, and the spotlight fell again on the Middle East. History had come full circle.

We use oil like it's going out of style. The current economic pressures on all of us are based largely on issues regarding the price and marketing of oil. Iraq fell under the control of a power hungry and ruthless man. With the leverage of oil, he amassed a large military force, and he openly invaded a small neighbor. He and his supporters made a mess of things there, and, for better or worse, the U.S. and some allies stepped in. And then again. The "oil factor" cannot be separated from current Iraqi history. Talking about Iraq and leaving out the oil issue would be like trying to talk about Martin Luther King and leaving out race issues. The two cannot be separated - in either case.