It's the Oil, Stupid

Here’s the latest assessment of Iraq’s oil production capabilities according to James Jeffrey, senior advisor to the Secretary of State:

Jeffrey said oil production has been restored to over 2 million barrels per day. Iraqi oil exports are reaching 1.6 million barrels per day, and Jeffrey said he would like to see Iraq exporting 2 million barrels per day.

What were Iraqi production capabilities before the first Gulf war? Look here:

Shortly after its failed 1990 invasion of Kuwait and imposition of resulting trade embargos, Iraq's oil production fell from 3.5 million barrels per day to around 300,000 barrels per day. By February 2002, Iraqi oil production had recovered to about 2.5 million barrels per day. Iraqi officials had hoped to increase the country's oil production capacity to 3.5 million barrels per day by the end of 2000, but did not accomplish this given technical problems with Iraqi oil fields, pipelines, and other oil infrastructure.

Here’s a reference to a declassified British document showing Nixon’s resolve to break the Arab oil embargo in 1973:

The United States government seriously contemplated using military force to seize oil fields in the Middle East during the Arab oil embargo 30 years ago, according to a declassified British government document made public on Thursday.
The top-secret document says that President Richard M.Nixon was prepared to act more aggressively than previously thought to secure America's oil supply if the embargo, imposed by Arab nations in retaliation forAmerica's support for Israel in the 1973 Middle East war, did not end. In fact,the embargo was lifted in March 1974. The declassified British memorandum said the United States considered launching airborne troops to seize oil fields in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, but only as a "last resort."

The point to be made here is that oil is the lifeblood of the West, and that the current war in Iraq, whether you support it or not, was inevitable. Incompetence in the war’s prosecution does not invalidate the desired goal of stabilizing the Middle Eastern oil market.