Ambassador to Iraq, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
The Iraqis truly understand that if Iraq is to develop it needs to do more to exploit its oil reserves so I think that what's going on. Iraq has understood that with existing technology with existing capital they can only go so far in terms of exploiting their oil and they need to do a lot more and so they look forward to signing on to cooperative relationships with international oil companies.
It's a view that now is the time to get this accomplished; the Iraqi forces have gained an incredible number of capabilities over the years and so we think they are ready.
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