Oil Was Supposed to Rebuild Iraq

In theory, Iraq could raise the estimated $88 billion it says it needs to rebuild the country on its own in less than a year.  

In the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq 15 years ago, one factor in the debate was the notion that the the war would almost pay for itself. “The oil revenue of that country could bring between $50 [billion] and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years,” Paul Wolfowitz, then the U.S deputy secretary of defense, told a congressional panel in March 2003. “We're dealing with a country that could really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon.”  

But 15 years later, takeover of large parts of the country, and has never been able to fund a substantial portion of the reconstruction itself. The country, ’s second-largest producer of crude oil, pumps about 4.3 million barrels per day, of which it exports about 4 million daily. This, with oil at $66 per barrel, should be generating about $264 million in revenues for the country each day. If all of Iraq’s oil-export revenues were spent on reconstruction, the country could rebuild completely, even after all that, in a relatively short period. But things aren’t quite that simple.