Iraq’s oil capitals Basra and Kirkuk have six-month make-or-break window in 2008 …

Plus:
*Kirkuk oil stopped, Ceyhan filled
*Future of Kirkuk
*Baghdad Park Bridges Sectarian Divide
*Much, much more

Iraq's crude capital, Basra, and perhaps its most controversial city, Kirkuk, also flush with oil, face a formidable 2008.

The futures of both depend on how the post-2003 power vacuum plays out, though the latter could be settled with a political compromise in Baghdad.

In Basra, after nearly five years of a U.S. occupation that focused on sectarian divisions, intra-Shiite politic...