Iraq exports approx 2 million barrels of oil per day under the UN oil-for-food (and medecine) programme.

Oil production in a post-Saddam Iraq, free from sanctions and with the benefit of foreign investment, and with a far more responsible government providing for the needs of the Iraqi people, could quite realistically be ramped up to 5-7 million barrels per day within three years. Oil revenue for the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people, even given oil price fluctuations and the cost of investment, would MORE THAN DOUBLE.

Only a complete fool could believe that the Iraqi people would be worse off under the second scenario.