Anbar Province, Iraq
Sunni-dominated Anbar province has much greater oil reserves than previously believed, Iraqi and foreign engineers said this week. The largely desert province had been thought to be relatively barren of oil, compared with the rich reserves in Kurdish and Shiite provinces. “What this does is it gives Anbar and the Sunnis an economic future different from phosphate and cement,” said Gen. John R. Allen, deputy commanding officer of coalition forces in the region. How to share Iraq’s oil wealth has been the major point of contention among Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds. Sunnis have been advocating a strong central government that can transfer wealth from the other two regions to theirs. But if they have enough of their own oil, they might support a looser confederation.
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