Oil Spill?

How would you like to see the U.N. in charge of Iraqi oil again?

That may sound like a sick joke after all the muck that’s turned up from the U.N.’s corrupt oil-for-food program. But money from Iraqi oil is once again accumulating, and it’s being held by the Development Fund for Iraq, which has about $10.5 billion sitting in New York bank accounts.

Right now, Paul Bremer controls that money. But when Amb. Bremer leaves Iraq on June 30, the man in charge of the Development Fund may be the U.N. envoy for Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi.

Before that happens, some folks are suggesting we cut off the U.N.’s access to those funds by making sure Iraqi oil is turned over to the Iraqi people.

One idea is to give every law-abiding Iraqi an equal share in oil revenues—perhaps in the form of stock. Before the war, we were told that Iraqi oil would be used for reconstruction. But more than anything else, Iraqi reconstruction now depends on peace and prosperity.

And the sooner each Iraqi has a personal stake in peace and prosperity, the sooner we’re out of there, and Iraqis start keeping the peace themselves. Setting up an Iraqi oil fund and splitting the shares between every Iraqi would be a gamble. But think of the U.N. alternative!

And that’s the Asman Observer.