Message on Iraqi oil: ‘Invasion has backfired’

The invasion of Iraq has weakened the United States’ energy security and contributed to the recent surge in oil prices, energy experts said Thursday at a one-day conference of international oil executives and experts from think tanks.

“The invasion has backfired,” Herman Franssen, president of International Energy Associates, a Maryland firm, told the conference. “Iraq is now a failed state and will be for a long time.”