New Iraq oil strategy attempts to walk political fine line

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has lent his support to a new two-pronged oil-development strategy in an attempt to appease those who have challenged the current strategy as relying too much on the hope of future investment from international oil companies by launching an immediate domestic work program, IHS Global Insight Middle East analyst Samuel Ciszuk writes in a column for United Press International.

Iraq's parliament defied government objections and voted on Thursday to cut the oil-dependent country's 2009 budget by $4.2 billion, or nearly 7 percent, due to slumping oil prices, Ahmed Rasheed reports for Reuters.