Basra and Iraq: Oil and Expectations

A strange portrait of the Southern-Iraqi city of Basra is painted in a recent and brief Economist article.  Better than Baghdad struggles to find real evidence of improvement of quality of life or opportunity in Basra, which is Iraq's international oil and shipping hub and home to a large disenfranchised Shia population.

Basrawi Street by 17th Fires Brigade

The Economist compares the situation in Basra of three years ago, "when anti-Western Shia militia controlled the streets," with the "more business friendly" Basra of today.  With the view confined to this time frame, that the city continues to exist at all could be an improvement, given that the city in 2008 was torn apart in the "Battle of Basra" or "Operation Charge of the Knights" which saw a week of coalition airstrikes and street battles before a ceasefire with Muqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army was negociated.  That "terrorist attacks are a monthly rather than daily horror" is also presented as an improvement, though "monthly" seems an exagerated infrequency.

The article describes the area around Basra as a "geological El Dorado," duly noting that the Rumaila and West Qurna oil deposits, when discovered, combined as "the second-biggest oil field in the Middle East."  Such wealth has gone largely untapped as wars and international sanctions prevented Saddam Hussein from bringing the surrounding oil fields into efficient production.  The opportunity that this presents, it would seem to the Economist, is the obvious catalyst to prosperity in Basra, as its first evidence of an "improving" situation is that "BP signed a technical-services contract for Rumaila last year... it's operations, together with its partners from Chinese and Iraqi state-owned oil companies, are gaining momentum." 

The article conveys a number of interesting images: "People eat juicy prawns in restaurants... sometimes sitting out past midnight on the balmy banks of the Shatt al-Arab; it is still unthinkable in Baghdad to relax on the edge of the Tigris... A smart hotel with a conference centre has just opened... Emirates airline is set to begin daily flights next year... sales of flashy cars have been soaring... the price of taxis and meals in good restaurants have been shooting up."  Certainly such scenes are confined to the centre of the city, where there are small enclaves of middle class wealth among a larger 'other-half'.  It describes a recent oil-and-gas conference where managers from Halliburton and a Mercedes-Benz dealer "rubbed shoulders" with average Iraqi businessmen looking for opportunities to provide local logistical support.  It would seem that Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Battle of Basra have indeed secured some type of opportunity for Iraqis; to tap a Reaganomic trickle from foreigners busily appropriating Iraq's natural wealth.

Upon describing such dubious "improvements," The Economist does not fail to admit how bad the overall facts of life in Basra are, seven years after the fall of Saddam Hussein:  "The dusty roads into the city pass miles of slums.  The canal that goes through the centre is stinking and stagnant.  The council was promised a dollar for every barrel of oil produced in the province but the cash has yet to be seen.  Many development projects have stalled... the number of jobs on offer has only slightly increased... Most foreign businessmen from Europe and America still prefer to lodge on a military base several miles outside the city, where they are still occasionally subjected to mortar fire."  The piece concludes with the ignominious statement: "Basrawis are being warned against having unrealistic expectations."  One is left to wonder what type of expectations in such conditions are unrealistic?  Any expectations of average Basrawis are in any case likely tempered by the daily news, such as the recent January 14th escape of twelve Al-Qaeda members who walked out of a fortified Basra jail wearing police uniforms; sprung from captivity by corrupt guards, Al-Qaeda infiltration of local authorities and higher authorities in Baghdad.  The jail's entire staff has been under arrest pending the full investigation.  Such corruption and displays of influence and power by terrorist groups are sure to remind the people of Basra that arrivals by Mercedes-Benz to riverside Shrimp-cocktail parties is not in the offing for all.


Read the Economist article:
http://www.economist.com/node/17633299

Read about the Basra Al-Qaeda jail-break:
http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/escaped-iraqi-al-qaeda-prisoners-had-inside-help
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70D47P20110114