Iraq in the Crude World: Part 1

In Baghdad, the Ministry of Oil turned into the Ministry of Truth, or so it seemed in the spring of 2003. While most government buildings, including the National Museum, were looted of everything from art-work to computers and light bulbs, after which the remains were often set alight, the Oil Ministry was untouched, aside from a bit of vandalism in the hours between the melting away of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the arrival of American soldiers. This was not a matter of luck.

When I …