Today in Automotive History
1964 Black Gold
The Iraqi National Oil Company was incorporated in Baghdad on this day. Oil wealth would make Iraq an important player in the politics of the Middle East for the next three decades. The fear of losing access to Arab oil--a fear that marked all U.S. policy to the Middle East following the 1973 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) embargo--drove the U.S. government to heavily support Iraq's war effort against Iran during the 1980s. However, America's friendly relationship with Iraq ended in 1990 with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, another oil wealthy Persian Gulf state friendly to the United States.