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01/01/2006:

"Chalabi takes over Iraq Oil Ministry"

Ahmad Chalabi, Iraq's deputy prime minister, has assumed direct control of the powerful Oil Ministry amid growing panic over an anticipated fuel shortage.

Chalabi, who has been improving his relations with Washington after falling out with the US administration, was appointed acting oil minister after the incumbent Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum was given leave, officials said on Friday.

His takeover coincided with long lines forming at petrol stations in Baghdad, as words spread that Iraq's largest oil refinery had shut down and a crippling petrol shortage was inevitable.

Chalabi, who supported Uloum for the post when a US-backed government was formed earlier this year, is already the head of the Oil Council, a cabinet-level board, and his influence on Iraq's economic and commodities policy is massive.
aljazeera.net

Talk about the fox guarding the henhouse...Iraq will splinter apart, but who will be profitting from the oil?