I agree, the people rightly have first claim on the oil revenue - and in places where that is not the case the revenue mostly buys too much government.The other thing I am disappointed in is that the US did not insist on breaking the oil production up into competitive enterprises, and on dissociating Iraq from OPEC. Too much "blood for oil" in that, I suppose - but it sure would "put a hurting on" Saudi Arabia's budget for proselytizing if that were so.
That is exactly the problem, it buys too much government, and as usually, pro government people worke for the government, thus there is the breeding ground for tyranny, as there is no check on how much the government spends, and in what, special interest groups allways demand more and more, and he who can deliver by spending the most gets most support, and becomes in creasingly tyrannical as he does not have to answer the people what he is doing with their money, he says it is for everybodys benefit, but it aint, just look at what is happening in Venesuela.