Daniel Yergin

Iraq has one of the world’s largest proven oil reserves. In the viewpoint that follows, historian and author Daniel Yergin examines how Iraq’s petroleum resources can help create a foundation for economic and political development following years of misrule under Saddam Hussein. Iraq’s oil industry cannot by itself rescue Iraq, he writes, especially if it is not managed properly. But Iraq’s oil resources and the earnings they can generate give the country a crucial advantage in its attempt to transition to a market economy and a democratic system of government. Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, is the author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize. He is...