OPEC

So, for a long time, I thought, maybe this war in Iraq wasn't about oil. I thought, hmmm, maybe this war happened just because W. was a psychopath. But then, just today, I noticed something. While Iraq has managed to train a police force, rebuild it's army (sort of), write a constitution and hold elections, they haven't joined OPEC.

OPEC is a cartel of oil-producing nations that regulates oil prices in their favour (to the disadvantage of the US) but self-imposing quotas to all member nations when prices begin to drop. The members are Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Right now, they're discussing cutting production, but the Saudis are hesitant because there's an election coming up and George and his family have been sucking them off for thirty years.

Why hasn't Iraq joined OPEC? They have nothing but oil, they don't have the infrastructure to exceed quotas anyway and high oil prices are their only hope for rebuilding their country.

(It's not that I don't believe W. is a psychopath. I'm pretty sure he is. How else could he be so cynical and sarcastic and down-right jovial in the face of the death and torture and destruction that surrounds him everyday?)