The Prize

Their fingers are inches from the shiny, brass ring. Can you blame them for wanting to ignore the bloodied bodies of Iraqis and U.S. soldiers, the growing disillusionment and opposition to the war at home, and the near-rebellion in the rank and file military?

They set out with one primary goal, and, by gosh, it looks like they're going to get it.

Iraq is sitting on a mother lode of some of the lightest, sweetest, most profitable crude oil on earth, and the rules that will determine who will control it and on what terms are about to be set.

The Iraqi government faces a December deadline, imposed by the world's wealthiest countries, to complete its final oil law. Industry analysts expect that the result will be a radical departure from the laws governing the country's oil-rich neighbors, giving foreign multinationals a much higher rate of return than with other major oil producers and locking in their control over what George Bush called Iraq's "patrimony" for decades, regardless of what kind of policies future elected governments might want to pursue.