Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Analysis:

This story was about how Representatives Vern Ehlers and Pete Hoekstra voted against a bill that passed by a margin of 308-106 in the House. The headline read “Ehlers, Hoekstra critical of defense budget,” and the opening line reads as “U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra said he was sending a message when he broke Republican ranks and voted against a record $453 billion defense bill early Monday.” Clearly the article is framing the story in such a way as to paint the area Congressman as opposed to this defense bill. The article claims that Rep. Ehlers voted against the bill because it included drilling for oil in Alaska. The only claim provided for why Hoekstra voted against this bill was because he was unable to find out until after the vote where money for intelligence was going.

There are several omissions worth mentioning here. First, the Press reporter Ken Kolker did not question the claims made by either Congressman, which he could have done by asking follow up questions. One question could have been “did both of you vote against this bill because you live in districts that are uncontested?” A second omission in this article is that it doesn’t provide any other perspectives on the Defense Spending bill, which is pretty major since it is $453 billion, the largest in US history, nor does it provide any details about the bill other than 2 local defense companies that are beneficiaries of contracts. The Last major omission is that the article does investigate further Rep. Ehlers claim that hiding the ANWAR oil drilling in the Defense Budget was “dirty pool.” Much has been written about the practice of hiding the oil drilling in the Defense bill. Senator Levin calls it a “violation of Senate Rule 28”, which doesn’t allow for provisions to be added in the manner it was. Readers should ask themselves if providing more information on what the $453 billion bill was about and perspectives other than the 2 Congressman would better serve the public?

Story:

Ehlers, Hoekstra critical of defense budget
By Ken Kolker
The Grand Rapids Press

U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra said he was sending a message when he broke Republican ranks and voted against a record $453 billion defense bill early Monday.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee should know how much is spent on gathering intelligence — especially post 9/11, he said.

“There’s more than just a little frustration,” he said.

Hoekstra, of Holland, and U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers, of Grand Rapids, were among 16 Republicans who voted against the defense bill, which passed 308-106. For Ehlers, it was mostly a matter of energy policy. A provision to drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which he opposes, was tied to the bill.

Hoekstra and Ehlers said they were not voting against the troops in Iraq.

Hoekstra said he was unable to learn, until after the vote, where the money was going for intelligence.

“I believe on a point of principle that the authorizing committees ought to have full exposure and access to how the appropriators spend money,” Hoekstra said.

Despite his no vote, his office issued press releases touting $5 million in defense spending on two West Michigan projects:
• $2.8 million for military aircraft transportation equipment made by a Cadillac company, AAR Mobility Systems.
• $2.1 million for a computer network being developed by Mercy General Health Partners of Muskegon that allows hospitals to share information on patients. It will serve as a prototype for the military.

While he supports both, he couldn’t let $5 million in local projects sway his vote on more than $400 billion in defense spending, Ehlers said, explaining the Arctic drilling provision was “something we should have voted on separately. I thought that was dirty pool.”

The drilling poses an environmental threat and keeps the United States in the wrong direction on energy, he said. The nation, he said, should spend more on alternative sources.

“We’re going to develop bigger appetites for oil. Ten years from now, when ANWR’s gone, we’re going to be in even worse shape than we’re in now.”

He also said he didn’t have time enough to study the defense bill.

“I thought this was extreme — a huge bill with that many expenditures,” he said. He feared he would “read in the paper” about some “silly little things” — pork barrel projects — that were included.

Analysis:

This story from WZZM 13 is a very clear example of unbalanced reporting. Only two voices are presented in this piece, White House spokesperson Scott McClellan and republican US representative Peter Hoekstra. Considering that this story is about alleged wrong-doing by the White House, it would make sense from a journalist standpoint to feature voices not affiliated with the White House. Rather, this piece offers not critical viewpoints. Nor does WZZM challenge anything said by either McClellan or Hoekstra. While the footage of McClellan is from a national news source, the footage of Hoekstra is not, being from an interview conducted by a WZZM 13 reporter. It would have been very easy for WZZM to ask Hoekstra follow-up questions to his statements.

Both McClellan and Hoekstra make the claim that the exposure of this wiretapping program has weakened the security of the US. Neither provides any concrete evidence to back this claim up and WZZM 13 does not ask for any verification. McClellan and Hoekstra also both make the claim “that congress members were briefed about the secret program in the past.” According to an article from the New York Times, “no more than 14 members of Congress have been briefed orally of the program since it began, but that no aides and note-taking were allowed during the meetings” and that “lawmakers who attended the briefings have provided starkly different versions of what they were told at the sessions.” Rather than challenge the claims made by Hoekstra, WZZM frames the story entirely within the notion advanced by Hoekstra that the exposure of this wiretapping program has made Americans less safe, going so far as to ask the viewing public to call in on whether they thought “media exposure of the wiretapping program is a serious blow to US security.”

Story:

WZZM Newsreader – The Bush administration is defending the way it dealt with congress on its domestic wire tapping program. Three Democratic and two Republican senators want an immediate inquiry into President Bush’s authorization of the secret program. Press secretary Scott McClellan says lawmakers were briefed more than a dozen times since the program began in 2001. The white house also criticized the media exposure of the program which the New York Times made public last week.

Scott McClellan – The disclosure of this program has damaged our national security and put us at greater risk because the enemy wants to know what we are doing, and by talking about this program. It gives the enemy a sense of what we are doing to try to disrupt plots and prevent attacks.

Newsreader – Critics say congress never authorized intercepting domestic phone calls and emails without a court order. President Bush plans to re-authorize the program when it comes up for renewal. Now tonight we spoke with US representative Pete Hoekstra, and he confirmed that congress members were briefed about the secret program in the past. The Holland republican is chairman of the house intelligence committee. Congressman Hoekstra says the New York Times, breaking the wire tapping story, has significantly weakened our ability to protect ourselves.

Representative Hoekstra – The more important phone call is the one from an Al Qaeda operative, in Afghanistan or Pakistan calling in to the United States. That’s a phone call that we need to be listening to, that we need to understand. We know what the threats are from Al Qaeda. This was a very tightly monitored program. We’ve now lost that capability or exposed that capability to Al Qaeda.

Newsreader – Representative Hoekstra said we lost a great insight into a terrorist network which was used for years and he says the New York Times is to blame. Well do you think media exposure of the wiretapping program is a serious blow to US security? You can go to our website to vote now on our poll 13. Log on to WZZM 13.com to tell us what you think and we will have the results right after tonight’s sports.

Total Time: 2 minutes, five seconds

Analysis:

This Press article ran as a follow up story to a December 14 Associated Press piece, and ran on the front page, trying to put a local angle on how this issue of pollution impacts West Michigan. The Press followed good journalistic practices by running the follow up story and by putting it on the front page, despite the fact that the story exposes an injustice, which often doesn’t make the front page.

The follow up story talks to some local experts in both the environmental and health fields, plus two residents in neighborhoods that are identified as having higher levels of pollutants. Where the story falls short is that it only identifies one factory that has high pollutant levels, a Lacks Enterprise factory. Readers would be better served if more companies were identified, instead the Press included a map that vaguely showed high level pollution areas. If readers wanted to further investigate the issue they would have to do so on their own, since the Press does not provide specific enough information on companies or causes of the pollution. Additionally, the Press did not follow the environmental racism angle enough. They spoke with expert in the area of health and environment, but did not make the links between class and race sufficiently, even though that data is available. Even in the area of health problems no real details are provided to readers about the health risks involved. Neighborhood organizers were not quoted, nor organizations who work on racial justice.

Story:

‘Legacy of problems’ plagues city air
By Ted Roelofs

A lifelong resident of Grand Rapids, Kathy Schmuck always assumed the air around here is good enough to breathe.

The fact that she lives in a census tract ranked as among the worst in Kent County for industrial air pollution did not come as good news. That she works in a nearby Grand Rapids hair salon in a neighborhood ranked as the very worst in the county gave her pause, as she snipped away at a customer’s hair. “If we’re the worst area, then that’s not a good thing,” said Schmuck, 45, owner of the Coit Avenue Hair Salon in Northeast Grand Rapids.
It remains unclear what are the precise health risks to those who live and work in neighborhoods exposed to the most industrial air pollution. But given research findings, environmentalists and clean air advocates say residents have legitimate cause for concern.

“We take it very seriously,” said Tom Leonard, executive director of the West Michigan Environmental Action Council.
“We are not surprised to see significant air pollution in old industrial sections and old inner-city neighborhoods. It’s a legacy of problems that we badly need to address.”

According to an Associated Press analysis of Environmental Protection Agency and 2000 Census data, 26 census tracts in Kent County rank among the top 5 percent of tracts nationally with the highest health-risk scores from industrial air pollution. The scores were compiled using plant emissions combined with models of projected air flow.

The EPA uses a similar index to create a score ranking industries for emissions. The highest scoring plant on that list in Kent County, Plastic-Plate/Monroe, a Lacks Enterprises plastic component plating &assembly facility at 1648 Monroe Ave. NW, is in the census tract with the highest health-risk score in Kent County.

Outside of Kent and Muskegon counties, no other census tracts in the Grand Rapids area were among the worst 5 percent for health-risk scores in the nation.

In Kent County, the neighborhoods that rank highest on the health risk index are clustered predominantly in Grand Rapids and Wyoming — with one in Sparta — and are not far from industrial plants.

Many are near the U.S. 131 freeway, which carries more than 100,000 cars a day through downtown Grand Rapids.
In many cases, they are populated by mostly black or Hispanic residents, which parallels national findings by AP that minorities are more likely than whites to be exposed to industrial pollution. Residents in these neighborhoods also tend to be poorer and less educated, it found.

Karen Meyerson, manager of the Asthma Network of West Michigan, said the location of these tracts simply confirms those findings.

“It makes perfect sense to me. What we see in general is that minorities bear a disproportionate burden” for pollution, she said.

According to Meyerson, numerous studies have found links between industrial air pollution and health, including infant mortality, lung growth and in rates of asthma. Meyerson said there also are other causes of asthma, including smoking in the home, the presence of pets, cockroaches and dust mites.

She noted that a 2005 report by the Michigan Department of Community Health found asthma hospitalization rates for Southeast Side Grand Rapids ZIP code 49507 were at least twice that for a pair of suburban ZIP codes.

The study found that the rate for the Grand Rapids neighborhood was 21.7 hospitalizations per 10,000, compared to 10.8 in East Grand Rapids-Cascade Township ZIP code 49506 and 5 in Kentwood-Cascade Township ZIP code 49546.
Overall, according to the Pediatric &Adult Asthma Network of West Michigan, asthma hospitalization rates are more than twice as high among blacks than whites in Kent and Muskegon counties.

Standing in an apartment doorway in the Campau Commons housing project in Southeast Grand Rapids, Karen Jones said black residents like herself have come to expect housing options that are less than ideal.

Jones, 22, has lived for three years in this neighborhood at Franklin Street and South Division Avenue that also ranks among the worst for industrial air pollution. “They really don’t have a say-so,” Jones said of the neighborhood’s residents.

She noted the heavy traffic on U.S. 131, not to mention the busy streets that intersect at this aging housing complex slated to be torn down next year. She pointed across the street: “That’s a factory right there.”

Leonard of WMEAC acknowledges that West Michigan’s air quality has improved in the past years as factories scaled back or shut down in a faltering manufacturing economy. Air pollution numbers from the EPA found Kent County factories pumped out 2.6 million pounds of toxic air releases in 1999 compared to 540,000 pounds in 2003. In Ottawa County, where coal-fired power plants create the area’s most air pollution, toxic air releases fell from 9 million pounds in 1999 to 5.8 million pounds in 2003, a 36 percent decline.

Analysis:

This piece is basically free advertising for the amusement park industry. the footage for thsi story was obviously not obtained locally and is most likely provided by an amusement park industry PR effort.

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – Those planning a vacation to Florida may want to add a little more to there amusement park budget. Sea World Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay are hiking prices for 2006. A one day admission to Sea World is going up by more than two dollars to sixty one dollars and 95 cents for adults. Busch Gardens is hiking prices by two dollars, that brings that admission to fifty-seven ninety-five. Disney world and Universal Studios have so far kept prices the same as last year, each running just shy of sixty dollars per adult ticket. As for parks closer to home, Michigan’s Adventure is charging twenty four dollars for admission in 2006 and that is up one dollar from last year and the good news is that Cedar Point has lowered ticket prices by five dollars. This year you get in the gate for thirty-nine ninety-five instead of the forty-five dollars they charged just last year.

Total time: 51 seconds

Analysis:

WOOD 8 was the only station to report on this story. This is most likely due in part to the fact that this story was first reported by NBC news, which is the parent affiliate of WOOD 8. The story is a little over a minute long and in many ways is a commercial for the 6:30 NBC nightly news broadcast. The story consists of an introductory sentence from the local newsreader and then cuts to an NBC senior investigative reporter in a studio giving a very cursory description of the story and urging viewers to watch the 6:30 news for more information.

In the piece, the NBC reporter says that the Pentagon has been monitoring anti-war and peace groups around the country and in some cases labeling these groups in their database as a “threat.” Then the reporter proceeds to tell the viewer that the Pentagon has released a statement that they “have begun a thorough revue of their entire domestic intelligence program” and that their intelligence officers will be required to take “refresher classes on how to properly collect and store intelligence to protect the privacy rights of use citizens.” No other information is included, such as the specific organizations that were monitored nor were any voices from these groups included. Nor was their any questioning of the Pentagons statements or any information provided about the results or effectiveness of previous Pentagon internal investigations. This reporting of government positions without any critical analysis or alternative voices in quite common on the local TV news, which tends to rely on government sources of information often exclusively, without asking critical questions.

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – As NBC news first reported, the Pentagon has been collecting intelligence on anti-war activists inside the US. NBC News senior investigative reporter Lisa Myers has more on this investigation.

Reporter – As we’ve been reporting, NBC News obtained a secret Pentagon database showing that the military has been monitoring anti-war groups across the country, in some cases labeling their peaceful activities a threat. Now the Pentagon initially declined to comment about all this, but today Pentagon officials reversed course, admitting that some of the information on peaceful anti-war activists should not have been in the data base. The Pentagon also announced today that they have begun a thorough revue of their entire domestic intelligence program, which is designed to amass information on real threats to military personnel and bases inside the US. And the Pentagon is now ordering all military intelligence officials to take refresher classes on how to properly collect and store intelligence to protect the privacy rights of use citizens. We’ll have much more on this story tonight on the NBC nightly news with Brian Williams.

Total time: 1 minute, 11 seconds

Analysis:

These two pieces were both about an economic report by the Upjohn Institute on job growth in West Michigan. The WXMI segment ran during their Business download feature and was rather short, being about 45 seconds. In the piece, the newsreader states that Michigan is lagging behind the rest of the nation in job growth and that job growth in the state has been less than projected. The story then cuts to report author and economist from the Upjohn Institute George Erickcek who says “It’s good news and I think the Grand Rapids Muskegon Holland area is growing. I think that’s positive. The challenge is, is that we are still an area that makes things.” the economist is not given any more air-time to explain why being an area that “makes things” is a challenge. Rather, the piece ends with the newsreader stating that productivity advances are hurting manufacturing companies and that most job growth is expected in the service sector.

The WZZM 13 piece was much longer, being about two and half minutes long and it framed the issue as one of education. In the story the reporter says that , according to this new report “Your job prospects improve a lot in our state and else where if you have a college degree.” The Reporter goes on to interview students at Grand Valley as well as show a clip of Governor Grandholm and report author George Erickcek. While both stories state that the slow job growth in Michigan is a factor of losing manufacturing jobs, the only reason given for the loss of manufacturing jobs in Michigan is an increase in productivity, meaning companies require fewer workers to produce the same amount of stuff. No mention is made of outsourcing of jobs to lower cost labor markets. In the WZZM 13 piece this is obliquely referred to when one of the Grand Valley students interviewed says “The way it’s going it’s turning into a global economy so we’re just going to have to look at it in that light now.” This is rather typical of the local news which usually frame the outsourcing of jobs as a natural and unavoidable phenomenon. Almost never in the local media is the outsourcing of jobs discussed withing the framework of the international financial institutions, policies and treaties, such as CAFTA, the IMF or World Bank that have had an active role in creating what the student refers to as the “Global Economy.”

Story:

WXMI Newsreader – The latest predictions for the West Michigan economy unveiled today, that tops our business download. Folks from Six West Michigan counties were on hand to hear the results of the annual report produced by Right Place Inc. It showed that Michigan is dragging behind the national average when it comes to employment growth and while it’s up from last year, it’s only half as much as economists were hoping for.

George Erickcek (Upjohn Institute)– It’s good news and I think the Grand Rapids Muskegon Holland area is growing. I think that’s positive. The challenge is, is that we are still an area that makes things.

Newsreader – The study shows that productivity advances are hurting manufacturing companies, they simply don’t need as many people. Most job growth in 2006 is expected to occur in the service sector.

Total time: 45 seconds

———————

WZZM 13 Newsreader #1 – A new economic forecast for West Michigan estimates we’ll show, we’ll see some slight job growth next year about point six percent.

WZZM 13 Newsreader #2 – And the man who wrote the forecast says things do look good for some people, as Peter Ross reports.

Reporter – Your job prospects improve a lot in our state and else where if you have a college degree. The big house holds over one hundred thousand people. The people who have lost their jobs in Michigan in the past five years would fill Michigan’s stadium nearly three times. But, as some Grand Valley students took their final exams…

Student #1 – I’m not really concerned, I know there is a lot of engineering jobs around here.

Reporter – Some look forward to working for one of Michigan’s car companies.

Student #2 – I believe that the manufacturing will go overseas but if we can keep thinking and you know designing here, I really believe in that.

Reporter – These are the students the Governor spoke about when she celebrated the expansion of Grand Valley’s engineering school. People she said will help transform Michigan’s economy.

Governor Granholm – You are so smart, smart for choosing the career that you have chosen, smart for the state of Michigan too.

George Erickcek (Upjohn Institute) – If you look at the future and you say what kind of jobs do you want to go for, the only jobs not to are those that do not require education.

Reporter – Economist George Erickcek wonders if we can handle what he calls the double edged sword of productivity.

Erickcek – The problem is we’re making these increases due to productivity gains and we just don’t need workers. So we’re expecting employment in manufacturing in Grand Rapids to stay flat in 2006 and 2007.

Reporter – There are other factors.

Student #1 – The way it’s going it’s turning into a global economy so we’re just going to have to look at it in that light now.

Reporter – It’s a big test for Michigan’s economy, and just by being here, these kids will have a better chance of succeeding in it.

Student #1 – That’s the bottom line, you need an education.

Reporter – Economists Erickcek forecast for last year, a bit too optimistic. He predicted point seven percent job growth for the Grand Rapids area. He said today that actual growth was only point four percent due to bigger than expected decline in factory jobs.

Total Time: 2 minutes 30 seconds

Analysis:

These two pieces are obvious video news releases. Essentially, WXMI and WOOD are giving Coca-cola a free comercial by running these stories. Considering the hundreds of millions of dollars that Coke spends on advertising, it is hard to see how the stations are serving the public interest by reporting on new Coke slogans.

Story:

WXMI 17 Newsreader – Not getting wired enough from guzzling Coca-Cola? How about mixing it with coffee, that’s what coke plans to do with its new drink Coca-Cola Black. The Atlanta based soft drink company is on the verge of a marketing blitz just barely selling more pop than Pepsi, if you’re wondering that’s about 100 billion dollars annually, they’re also changing their slogan to “Welcome to the coke side of life.”

Total Time: 21 seconds

WOOD 8 Newsreader – Coca-Cola is changing it’s slogan again, the company is replacing it’s catch phrase “Real” with “Welcome to the Coke side of life.” Coke has had about fifty slogans over the years but “The real thing” launched in 1969 may be the best known. By comparison Pepsi has had about 40 different slogans over the years.

Total Time: 20 seconds

Analysis:

The AP article states that Republicans have “reached a White House-backed compromise to renew broad powers granted to law enforcement agencies in the days after the 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil.” There is some mention of the other parts of the Patriot Act that are being negotiated by the White House such as law enforcement access to personal data and a 4-year extension on what are called roving wiretaps. Although the article says that “bipartisan criticism flared,” the only dissenting voices quoted are those is of Democratic Senators Russ Feingold and Patrick Leahy.

There were several sections of the original version omitted from the Press version as you can see below. The most important part was a quote from 6 critics, 3 Democrats and 3 Republicans who said “We still can, and must, make sure that our laws give law enforcement agents the tools they need while providing safeguards to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans.” The larger omission however, was that no other voices or perspectives are provided than that of government officials. This is too big an issue to ignore what citizen groups are saying about the Patriot Act and civil liberties considering how many cities and states have passed resolutions against the current USA Patriot Act. The story could have sought out comments from the ACLU or the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, both national groups which have a taken a critical position on the Patriot Act. It is also important to mention that nowhere in the story is the legislation cited or where readers could find it in order to make an informed decision when contacting their Representatives and Senators.

Story:

Patriot Act agreement reached
WASHINGTON – (AP) Key Republicans from the House and Senate reached a White House-backed compromise Thursday to renew the broad powers granted to law enforcement agencies in the days after the 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil.

GOP leaders pledged to pass the Patriot Act extension for President Bush’s signature by the holidays, although bipartisan criticism flared. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., threatened to filibuster a bill he said lacked adequate safeguards to protect constitutional freedoms.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the measure would assist “in the detection, disruption and dismantling of terrorist cells before they strike.”

Important parts involve the ability of law enforcement officials to gain access to a wealth of personal data, including library records, as part of investigations into suspected terrorist activity.

The measure provides a four-year extension of the government’s ability to conduct roving wiretaps – which may involve multiple phones – and to seek access to many of the personal records covered by the bill.

White House officials signaled their satisfaction, and Specter has credited Vice President Dick Cheney with intervening this week to help bring the House and Senate together.
Critics from the left and right said the legislation was a bad deal.

“Taking away our rights does not make us safer,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., one of several lawmakers in both parties demanding changes in the measure.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

“We hammered out what I think is a good bill. … Not a perfect bill, but a good bill,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who announced the compromise at a news conference in the Capitol.

Also extended for four years is the power to wiretap “lone wolf” terrorists who may operate on their own, without control from a foreign agent or power.

Six critics, three from each party, said in a statement, “We still can, and must, make sure that our laws give law enforcement agents the tools they need while providing safeguards to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans.”

Republicans said they intended to proceed without further changes.
The agreement capped weeks of fits and starts and came after a day of confusion and mixed signals.

Analysis:

This article was written by a reporter from the Associated Press and was on the back page of the business section. It is a fairly long article and it explains how oil production levels and revenues in Iraq have dropped far below pre-war levels and also below the levels projected by pre-war planners. The article states that these drops in production have been the result of the ongoing insurgency which has targeted oil infrastructure and pipelines. In the article several experts from various investment and oil research firms are quoted, including PVM Vienna, PFC Energy, Barclays bank, and Energy Intelligence Research. These experts predict in the article that oil production in Iraq in 2006 will either stay the same as the preceding year or drop lower.

No other voices or perspectives are provided in this article which is framed entirely on the issue of what Iraq’s oil production levels are, and whether they are going up or down. It is taken as a given in the article that increased production is a good thing and that it will help the Iraqi people. At no point is it asked who will really benefit from an increase in Iraqi oil production. A new report entitled “Crude designs: the rip off of Iraq’s oil wealth” reveals that current Iraqi oil policy will allocate the development of at least 64 per cent of Iraq’s reserves to foreign oil companies. This report, co-written by the Groups the New Economics Foundation and War on Want, warns that the current oil contracts being given in Iraq guarantee US and UK oil companies massive profits, with rates of return of 42 per cent to 162 per cent. Telling readers how much oil Iraq is producing is certainly a fact worth reporting on but it only gives the reader part of the story. It is only by telling the reader who actually is benefiting from Iraqi oil production that this information has much value in helping the reader understand some of the motivations and actions of the various actors in Iraq.

Story:

Iraq oil production declining this year
By Jim Krane
The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Despite President Bush’s optimism on Iraq’s reconstruction, the country appears set to pump less crude in 2005 than last year’s disappointing showing and far less than under Saddam Hussein.

The only bright spot for Iraq’s oil sector, hampered by unrelenting insurgent attacks on its infrastructure, is that near-record oil prices have softened the blow by boosting export earnings.

“The general integrity of Iraqi oil infrastructure appears to us to be heading backwards rather than forwards,” London-based Barclay’s Capital said in a report issued Thursday.

The attacks have made it all but impossible to attract foreign expertise needed to rejuvenate Iraq’s rusty oil infrastructure, drill new wells or take any number of steps toward increasing production or exports.

Legal disputes between Iraq’s provinces and central government about ownership of oil is also keeping investors away, said Jamal Qureshi, an oil analyst with PFC Energy in Washington.

“Iraq has a lot of potential, but lots of things have to go right,” Qureshi said. “We see no sign of that happening.”
Iraq has tumbled a long way since the heady days of 1990, when it pumped about 3.5 million barrels a day, its peak production year. Since then, wars, sanctions and neglect have left the industry in tatters.

Nobody has definitive numbers on Iraq’s oil production, but analysts say daily production this year will average about 1.8 million barrels per day, about 10 percent less than 2004 levels of about 2 million barrels — and just over half 1990 levels.

“It’s another disappointing year,” said Sharif Ghalib of Energy Intelligence Research in New York.
Analysts say 2006 looks just as gloomy, although some predicted it would show an improvement.

“Anything above 2 million barrels per day would be a positive surprise for next year,” said David Wech, an oil analyst with PVM Oil Associates in Vienna.

In his speech Wednesday, Bush said Iraq is making quiet, steady progress in repairing its shattered economy, though reconstruction “has not always gone as well as we had hoped” because of violence. Bush did not mention Iraq’s oil sector, which is responsible for almost all of Baghdad’s export earnings.

Ghalib expects incessant insurgent sabotage to continue to hamstring the sector, even after next week’s elections. Iraqi production in 2006 will remain flat at about 1.8 million barrels a day, with exports of 1.3 million barrels a day, Ghalib predicted.

“There’s nothing on the horizon that suggests things are going to calm down,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Iraqi oil ministry predicted crude production would reach 2.5 million or even 3 million barrels a day by the end of 2006.

“That’s pie in the sky,” Ghalib said. “It’s not going to happen.”

In November, Iraqi crude exports plunged to 1.2 million barrels per day, one of the lowest levels since the country restarted oil shipments after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The pain has been offset by a climb in oil prices, boosting oil export earnings. This year’s oil revenues are expected to hit $23 billion, almost a third higher than the $17.5 billion in 2004, according to a government report cited by Dow Jones Newswires.

But oil ministry figures say insurgent attacks since 2003 have cost Iraq about $11.35 billion in lost revenue and infrastructure damage as of May 2005.

Iraq’s sputtering oil sector has defied prewar optimists led by Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who hoped booming exports from an America-friendly Iraq could rebuild the country and cut America’s reliance on Saudi crude.

The attacks take much of the blame, directly or indirectly, for crippling Iraq’s production and exports.

Saboteurs have been able to keep Iraq’s northern export pipeline to Turkey almost constantly shut since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. They have also occasionally halted exports from Iraq’s two Persian Gulf oil terminals in the south.
Attacks and power outages have caused delays for tanker ships arriving at Iraq’s Gulf terminals to take on oil, leaving the oil ministry paying as much as $30 million in “demurrage” charges to shipping companies, Dow Jones reported.

On Thursday, nine tankers were anchored off Basra Oil Terminal waiting to take on crude, five of which had been waiting since late November, said Mohammed Hadi, head of Iraq operations for Norton Lilly International.