Oil is the lifeblood of modern economics. It is the precious resource at the heart of empire-building---from the British empire to the American empire today. It underpins the world's financial markets. But seventy per cent of the world's oil supplies lie under the sands of the Middle East.

Did the United States invade Iraq to grab Iraq's oil? Many people think so. This book shows how this is part of a wider U.S. attempt to dominate international oil and maintain America's global dominance.

Written by an influential oil consultant with experience of working in both the U.S. and Arab oil industries, this book provides a rare insight into the real motivations behind U.S. intervention in the Arab world and the relationship between the United States and the Arab states. Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum provides a historical account of the roots of today's involvement, analyzing U.S. intervention in the Arab world since the nineteenth century.

Zalloum provides an account of America's changing role in OPEC. He examines the fate of Iraq's oil and the involvement of U.S. contractors. He also analyzes the role of oil in America's relationship with Israel, providing an important insight into how this dynamic is viewed in the Arab world. The book offers a unique perspective on how the United States is viewed in the Arab region and how progress should be made if real peace and stability are to be brokered.

About the Author )Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum
Abdulhay Yahya Zalloum is a Harvard-educated international oil consultant who has spent nearly fifty years in the oil business in America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He participated in the grass roots creation of several OPEC national oil companies and consulted to state companies including France and China. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of the Zalloum Group of companies and the author of several books.