2017 by Gary Vogler
All rights reserved
Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas 66045 ), which was organized by the Kansas Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the University of Kansas, and Wichita State University.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vogler, Gary, author.
Title: Iraq and the politics of oil : an insiders perspective / Gary Vogler.
Description: Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, 2017 . | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017026728 | ISBN 9780700625062 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780700625079 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Petroleum industry and tradePolitical aspectsIraq. |United StatesForeign economic relationsIraq. | IraqForeign economic relationsUnited States. | Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. | Coalition Provisional Authority. | Postwar reconstructionIraq.
Classification: LCC HD 9576 .I V 64 2017 | DDC 338.2/72909567090511 dc LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017026728.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available.
Printed in the United States of America
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To Barb, my bride of forty-four yearsyou were the rock, my foundation, that enabled me to realize my Iraq adventure. The visits home during my seventy-five months of deployment always ended with very difficult farewells, but your strength supported me. Thank you.
Preface
This book is more than just my memoirs. It covers the Iraq oil story over my five months of prewar planning and seventy-five months in IraqOctober 2002 until September 2011 . As a member of the Energy Infrastructure Planning Group (EIPG), I participated in the interagency oil sector planning at the Pentagon. After EIPG, I moved to retired Lieutenant General Jay Garners Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) team as a senior oil advisor in January 2003 . ORHA started planning at the Pentagon and then deployed to Kuwait on March , 2003 . We began moving into Iraq about a month later. As the first American civilian to enter the Ministry of Oil headquarters in Baghdad, on April , 2003 , my initial task was to appoint the first post-Saddam Iraqi oil sector leadership team on May , 2003 . The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) under Ambassador L. Paul Bremer governed Iraq until June 2004 . My tenure as an oil advisor continued through the CPA era.
The book addresses the important role that oil played after CPA. It includes oils role in northern Iraq during the surge of 2007 , which involved the role of the Bayji Refinery and distribution of its petroleum products throughout the Sunni north. It covers the role of the Energy Fusion Cell in 2007 and 2008 to focus the oil and electricity sectors in support of the surge security objectives. It covers the increased oil production after 2009 and the role that the coalition forces played to support and push the export infrastructure project. This led to record production levels at the end of 2015 , moving Iraq into the number-two production position in OPEC, behind Saudi Arabia.
Iraqs oil production increased from 2.5 million barrels a day in early 2003 to 4.4 million barrels a day at the end of 2015 , an increase that any oil company would envy. This book covers this thirteen-year period from the perspective of the US government and the coalition forces in a way that has never been told. Stories and vignettes are used throughout the book to highlight how the coalition forces partnered with the Iraqis in the Ministry of Oil to achieve successes in the oil sector. It also tells the stories of how the US government imposed obstacles when arrogance hindered us from partnering in 2003 . Fortunately, the successes outnumbered the failures. The oil story highlights the successes of many of the participants in the oil sector, including Iraqis, coalition military, and US government civilians.
It was always my intention to write a book about my Iraq oil adventure after returning from Baghdad in 2011 . My family never understood what the attraction could be that took me to Iraq for seventy-five months between 2003 and 2011 . They deserved an explanation. They heard some of my daily experiences while in Baghdad, but nothing that required more than five minutes of explanation on a long-distance phone call. My original reason for writing this book was to document my journey for my family. It quickly expanded to the broader purpose of telling the oil story to a larger audience. It provides historical information for the global oil industry and a historical military account of Iraq oil planning and execution. The book is used to thank the many Americans and Iraqis that enriched my life; the reader will note that I try to mention the name of each individual. Finally, the book provides a historical reference for anyone interested in the facts of our governments Iraq oil sector involvement.
My wife did the initial editing of the manuscript for me. This process gave her a better appreciation of my Iraq attraction. She sacrificed a lot during my absence, much more than me. I loved the work. It was the most rewarding work in my life.
My sense of urgency in writing this book increased after my participation in a Rachel Maddow documentary. Maddows producers contacted me a couple of times in 2013 to convince me to agree to an interview, but I turned them down. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer contacted me and asked that I join him and Meghan OSullivan to help refute the suspected Maddow documentary theme: that the Iraq War was all about oil. I agreed to join them.
My preparation for the documentary made me realize that the Iraq oil story had never been written. My research while preparing for the interview made me realize something significant: there were Iraq oil events that should be more thoroughly investigated and documented. Some of the conclusions from my in-depth research were a surprise, even to me. There was an oil agenda that may have had a significant influence on the decision to go to war. Before 2014 , I refuted any comment about oil being a significant motivator for our invasion of Iraq. My opinion has changed. There was an oil agenda, but it was not the oil agenda that most people believe. As a secondary objective of the book, this oil agenda is described; it is something that currently troubles me. What role did it play in the decision for war? It was an agenda to provide Iraqi oil to Israel. Pieces of this agenda are examined throughout the book.
Several of my ORHA and CPA colleagues told me that the oil story should be told and that I needed to tell it. No one else participated more in both the planning at the Pentagon and the subsequent execution of that plan in Iraq. My second tour started in 2006 and included oil reconstruction until late 2011 . All of that time in Iraq was under the auspices of the Department of Defense (DOD). My two deployments were as a government civilian appointee or independent contractor. I am not aware of anyone under the DOD who spent more time in Iraq between 2003 and 2011 . My service was under retired Lieutenant General Jay Garner, Ambassador Bremer, General Casey, General Petraeus, General Odierno, and General Austin. The ambassadors during my second tour included Khalilzad, Crocker, Hill, and Jeffrey.
