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HOUSTON _ As the Obama Administration ratchets up its confrontation with radical Islamists in Iraq, an idled tanker loaded with Kurdish oil off the Texas coast may provide a bargaining chip for enhancing US influence in Iraq.

The US has been seeking to persuade Iraqs Shia Muslim-dominated government to open itself to more inclusion, especially by the minority Sunni Arab population. Bringing beleaguered Iraqi Sunnis into the Baghdad power structure is seen as a way to diminish the appeal of the Sunni extremist group known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which is bent on establishing an Islamic state.

At the same time, Iraqs Kurds have sought an increase in autonomy that could ultimately result in an independent state across northeastern Iraq. Kurds have asserted their economic independence by increasing their oil production and exports via Turkey.

The travails of the United Kalavrvta, which entered the Gulf of Mexico in July carrying about one million barrels of Kurdish crude, are indicative of the Kurdish Regional Governments attempts to market oil and establish financial independence from Baghdad.

The US government has responded to the tankers arrival by publicly supporting Baghdads claim of control over Iraqs natural resources, including those in the Kurdish north. Unable to enter US territorial waters, the cargo languishes in a sort of legal limbo.

We feel the Obama administration may be missing a prime opportunity to use the dispute to influence events in Iraq. As part of its overall strategy, Washington should consider tempering its unconditional support for Baghdad, making it conditional the governments becoming more inclusive of Sunni Arabs and other minorities.

Manifestations of the chauvinistic tendencies in Baghdad include brutal suppression of Sunni protests and the flight of Iraqs Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, exiled in Kurdistan since 2011.

If US diplomats let it be known in Baghdad that, if progress were not made on issues of concern to Iraqi minorities, the Obama administration could announce its intention to recognize Kurdish autonomy in its oil production and sales efforts. If the Kurdish oil came ashore in the US, the resource ownership battle could move to US courts. If the owners of the oil were unhappy with these prospects, they could offload elsewhere.

Either way, the threat of establishing a precedent for Kurdish oil exports might focus minds within the new Iraqi administration of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on issues of importance to US policy in the region. The Kurdish crude would not have to be offloaded in the United States for this stance to be effective.

Why is this important? Reducing Sunni alienation from the Shia-dominated Iraqi government is crucial to the success of Obamas campaign against ISIS. The brutality of ISIS is more tolerable in some Sunni areas because it provides an alternative to the oppressive tactics of Iraqi security forces under the sectarian dictates of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Excerpt from:
Kurdish Oil and US Leverage in Iraq