Fuel on the Fire
Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq

Fuel on the Fire: Oil and Politics in Occupied Iraq by Greg Muttitt (Paperback) (ISBN: 9781847921116)

Oil lies at the heart of Iraqi politics. Yet in the eight years since the bombs began to fall on Baghdad it has been a taboo subject. In Greg Muttitt's gripping and far-reaching investigation we are taken behind the scenes of the occupation to answer one of the war's most pressing questions: what is happening to Iraq's oil?

In public the USA and Britain strenuously deny any self-interest. In private, however, they tell a different story. Drawing on hundreds of unreleased government documents and extensive interviews with senior American, British and Iraqi officials and oilmen, Fuel on the Fire reveals how the occupying powers have sought to return Iraq's oil industry to multinational companies - for the first time since it was nationalised in the early 1970s.

But America and Britain failed to take into account the determination of the Iraqis themselves - of civil society groups as well as senior oil experts - to keep production in the public sector. The attempts to impose a Western oil agenda regardless have dragged the country into ever deeper violence and continue to shape not just Iraq but the future of energy supplies and Anglo-American military strategy.

Fuel on the Fire is vital to our understanding of the war in Iraq and its consequences. It documents the clash between cultures and strategic interests. It reverberates with echoes of our imperial past and of our tragic failure to learn the lessons of history.

Greg Muttitt is a recognised international expert on Iraqi oil policy, and has written extensively on the subject. Since 2003, he has tracked how western oil interests have pursued their agenda through the occupation of Iraq. His work is well known in Iraq and in the international anti-war movement, and has had a central influence on the policy debate in Baghdad. He studied Physics and Philosophy at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. He lives in London.

" Iraqi civil society voices... resound with dignity in this brilliant, comprehensive account" New Internationalist

 

ISBN	1847921116
ISBN13	9781847921116
Publisher	The Bodley Head Ltd
Format	Paperback
Publication date	21/04/2011
Pages	464
Weight (grammes)	602
Published in	United Kingdom
Height (mm)	234
Width (mm)	153

Greg Muttitt is a recognised international expert on Iraqi oil policy, and has written extensively on the subject. Since 2003, he has tracked how western oil interests have pursued their agenda through the occupation of Iraq. His work is well known in Iraq and in the international anti-war movement, and has had a central influence on the policy debate in Baghdad. He studied Physics and Philosophy at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. He lives in London.