It would have been "right to remove" Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein even without evidence that he had weapons of mass destruction, Tony Blair has said.The former prime minister said it was the "notion of him as a threat to the region" which had tilted him in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Without WMD claims it would have been necessary to "use and deploy different arguments," he told the BBC. Mr Blair is expected to face the Iraq war inquiry early next year.
It would have been "right to remove" Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein even without evidence that he had weapons of mass destruction, Tony Blair has said.
The former prime minister said it was the "notion of him as a threat to the region" which had tilted him in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Without WMD claims it would have been necessary to "use and deploy different arguments," he told the BBC.
Mr Blair is expected to face the Iraq war inquiry early next year.
In this instance, a toothless contained dictator was replaced with an anarchy of occupation troops, puppet and not-so-puppet confessionary leaders with own militias faking a national government, tribal militias, criminal syndicates, and terrorists of all sorts. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Iraq's oil capacity could reach 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in six years, the country's oil minister says.Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters in Baghdad that oil producers would not necessarily operate at full capacity, but would take into account demand. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has a capacity of 12.5m bpd. Earlier, a joint bid by Russian and Norwegian oil firms won the contract for the "supergiant" West Qurna field, said to have reserves of 13bn barrels. Lukoil and Statoil will get $1.15 a barrel and will work to raise output from West Qurna Phase 2, in the Basra region, to 1.8m bpd. In June, a winning bid to develop another Iraqi field received $2 a barrel. On Friday, the contract to develop the 12.6bn-barrel Majnoon field in southern Iraq was won by a consortium led by Shell. It also pledged to increase daily production to 1.8m barrels, up from only 46,000.
Iraq's oil capacity could reach 12 million barrels per day (bpd) in six years, the country's oil minister says.
Hussein al-Shahristani told reporters in Baghdad that oil producers would not necessarily operate at full capacity, but would take into account demand.
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has a capacity of 12.5m bpd.
Earlier, a joint bid by Russian and Norwegian oil firms won the contract for the "supergiant" West Qurna field, said to have reserves of 13bn barrels.
Lukoil and Statoil will get $1.15 a barrel and will work to raise output from West Qurna Phase 2, in the Basra region, to 1.8m bpd. In June, a winning bid to develop another Iraqi field received $2 a barrel.
On Friday, the contract to develop the 12.6bn-barrel Majnoon field in southern Iraq was won by a consortium led by Shell. It also pledged to increase daily production to 1.8m barrels, up from only 46,000.
...But that's probably just a coincidence.
It's not because we no longer talk about Iraq in our news that things have stabilized over there, or that oil companies will invest a cent (ie, more than a few million in PR / diplomacy / long term strategic relationship maintenance). I seem to remember that big contracts were awarded a few years ago already... In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
