Ferruh demirmen pictures of bed

Lord Curzon, the British Foreign Secretary, denied that oil interests influenced policy in Iraq, but the archives show that the British government rushed troops to Mosul in 1918 to gain control of the northern oil fields.

Britain and France clashed over Iraq's oil during the Versailles Conference and after, but Britain eventually took the lion's share by turning its military victories into colonial rule. The powerful Iraq Petroleum Company, in which US and French firms held minority positions, acted always in the cartel interests of the Anglo-American companies.

To the fury of the Iraqis and the French, it held down production to maximize profits elswhere. The company kept a monopoly of Iraq's oil sector until nationalization in 1972.

The Byzantine Beginnings: The Quest for Oil (April 25, 2003)

Since the discovery of oil in the Middle East in 1908, western powers have sought dominance over the region's resources.

Dr. Ferruh Demirmen examines