Iraq is the fifth largest exporter of oil in the world, after Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Canada and Iran. And more than half of Iraq's oil production -- 53 percent in 2011, according to the International Monetary Fund -- goes to Asia, more than double the share in 2005, when 24 percent went to Asia.
Is it coincidence that when shipments to Asia began to increase that the U.S. went to war with Iraq, sending troops in search of nonexistent "weapons of mass destruction" (whatever they are)? Moreover, most of the oil producing fields in Iraq are owned by international oil companies, the IMF said in a detailed country report released Friday, July 19. The IMF study said some two million barrels per day go to Asia, about one million barrels go to the Americas, and less than 500,000 barrels of oil per day go to Europe from Iraqi oil fields.
Ten years after the U.S. military and its allies invaded Iraq, that nation is without a stable government, more than half its oil exports go to Asia, and nearly 4,500 American military personnel have died there. Several hundred more from other coalition military units have been killed. In addition, more than 100,000 civilian deaths have been recorded in Iraq, according to several groups that track the body count.
Was it worth it?
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