Iraq is strategic issue for oil giants, too

Iraq has the world's second-largest oil reserves, after Saudi Arabia.

''For any oil company, being in Iraq is like being a kid in F. A. O. Schwarz,'' said one senior European oil executive. ''The Iraqis need the foreign money and technology, and they will have to go to the international oil companies for that. But oil is their blood, and they won't give the shop away.''