The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, has promised that a US military occupation would hold Iraq's oilfields "in trust" for the Iraqi people, in an apparent effort to counter worldwide accusations that the looming war is mainly about control of the country's vast oil reserves.
However, in a session with US journalists, Mr Powell hinted at divisions within the US administration as to whether Iraqi oilfields should be privatised or left in Iraqi government hands, and if the US or the UN should oversee oil output in the aftermath of a successful US-led invasion.
Asked if foreign companies, like Chevron-Texaco, or the government-owned Iraqi National Oil Company, would control the oilfields, Mr Powell replied: "We don't have an answer to that question yet."
If the US were the occupying power, the oilfields would be operated for the benefit of the Iraqi people, he asserted. "How will we operate it? How best to do that? We are studying different models."
Iraqi oil "will be held in trust for the Iraqi people, to benefit the Iraqi people. That is a legal obligation that the occupying power will have," Mr Powell said.
Conservatives in the administration favour by-passing the Iraqi National Oil Company, taking short-term control of the oilfields, and opting for privatisation, according to reports in Washington.
"Everybody speculates about what my views are," Mr Powell said. "It \ will be held and it will be used in accordance with international law that lays out specific responsibilities of an occupying power."
Anti-war protesters claim that the Bush administration is planning to privatise the oil fields, which have known reserves of 112 million barrels. They say the US, heavily dependent on fossil fuel energy, would move to release Iraqi oil on to the world market, reduce the dominance of Saudi Arabia with its 262 million barrels of reserves, and engineer the slashing of oil prices to benefit the US economy.
In Dublin, meanwhile, the Taoiseach is set to agree to a Dáil discussion on the use of Shannon Airport as a stop-over and refuelling depot for US troops en route to the Gulf. Debate is likely to centre on perceived compromising of Irish neutrality and accusations over oil.
Mr Powell also questioned whether France, which has angered Washington by suggesting it might block any move towards war at the UN Security Council, was serious about ever coming to grips with Iraqi deception.
US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld yesterday dismissed Germany and France as "old Europe ... If you look at the entire NATO Europe today, the centre of gravity is shifting to the east. You look at vast numbers of other countries in Europe, they're not with France and Germany on this, they're with the United States."