The war in Iraq has never been just about oil, but oil always has been a big part of what the war is about.

Oil is the mainstay of Iraq’s economy, and other than the manufacture of those flag-draped coffins of civil war victims that are carried to cemeteries every day, it is the beleaguered nation’s only growth industry.

But some huge imponderables loom behind those refinery smoke plumes.

What is going to happen to the oil industry after the all-but-inevitable U.S. withdrawal?

And most importantly, who is going to control the Iraq oil industry?

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