US General Cautions Low Oil Prices a Threat to Iraq Pullout

Iraqi Govt's Budget Woes Could Derail US Pullout Strategy

Speaking to reporters today in Baghdad, US Lieutenant General Frank Helmick cautioned that the Iraqi government’s budget shortfalls were posing a major problem for the nation in trying to prepare for a poential US pullout.

Ironically enough for a war which dramatically increased the price of oil across the world, the budget problems in Iraq are chiefly a consequence of the global economic downturn’s deleterious effect on the price of oil, which has dropped precipitously from nearly $150 a barrel to around $70.

So amazingly enough, the US pullout strategy, nebulous though it is, may now be predicated on actually getting the price of oil to rise enough for the Iraqi government to fund its massive military expansion.

Iraqi officials had to revise their budget repeatedly over the course of the year as the price of oil dropped. Over 90% of the Iraqi government’s revenues come from oil exports.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.