Oil for Freedom
Part 1

15 Basra Refinery
In a meeting of workers in the refinery’s fire department, one senior firefighter, Abdul Faisal Jaleel, explains why he opposes the privatization of the oil industry. He compared the refinery, which produced enormous wealth while never having the money to repair equipment, to “a camel which carries gold, but eats thorns.” Now, he said, “we want to use the oil money to develop Iraq with our own hands.”

photographs and stories by David Bacon © 1990-1999

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