But in the meantime, with oil prices at their highest in a decade, he and his supporters have come to rely on oil smuggling for their skyrocketing wealth. On a driving tour of the Iraqi capital, we were amazed at the Beverly Hills-style mansions rising in the fashionable Mansour district. Walking past sparkling new stores with cosmetics, jet skis and high-tech televisions piled high, we saw how comfortable life has become for Hussein and his sycophants. For the perpetually neglected Kurdish minority, times are also good. They also have come to rely on a brisk oil smuggling business across the Turkish border.
Tanker trucks line up by the hundreds to enter Iraq and fill up with the illegal export.
With aid workers building schools and hospitals, and American jets patrolling the skies above northern Iraq, the Kurds are not about to be on the leading edge of another risky effort to overthrow Hussein. This neutralizes what could otherwise be an election-year hazard for Vice President Gore. Despite occasional criticism that the administration's Iraq policy is on autopilot, Clinton and his top aides are relieved to be beyond the cycle of crises over weapons inspections that led to the Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign in December 1998. This explains Albright's having ruled out the use of force. With the Iraqi military weakened by the sanctions and Hussein at least appearing to be contained, senior U.S. policymakers can more comfortably ignore Iraq and focus on other crises.