Chevron Fueling Renewed Debate on Iraq

David Baker has a piece in today's San Francisco Chronicle that--intentionally or not-- resurrected the "blood for oil" conspiracy theories that were popular around the beginning of the Iraq war.

Baker reports on Chevron's efforts to enter into long-term contracts with the Iraqi government for new oil production. The comment thread to the post is on fire.

The broad consensus is that the U.S. invasion and subsquent toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime was all about getting access to the Iraqi oil fields.

I didn't get too far into the thread because all of the comments were pretty much the same, but I'm sure somebody has already suggested that Blackwater will be guarding Chevron facilities in-country!

Regardless of the conspiracy theories, the development is significant from an energy perspective because Iraq is widely believed to have the third-largest oil reserves in the world.

Chevron reportedly in talks to tap Iraq's oil [San Francisco Chronicle]