

The Iraqi who saved Norway from oil (2009) - ymse
http://web.archive.org/web/20090831100821/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feabdc0.html

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samer66
Here is a video, in Arabic, he says he interpreted exploration reports from 13
oil wells.They asked him for a draft on how to handle oil industry. He called
for separation between ownership and operation, to treat the Norwegian oil
company as a private entity. They did it right when they prepared well. He
said his contribution was in establishing a scientific basis for the
government role in the oil industry.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEiqveFm1Yk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEiqveFm1Yk)

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iamcurious
Can someone that reads Norwegian verify this? I haven't found a lot of
material in English.

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NegatioN
I can't verify this particular story, although it sounds true. However, all
the general stuff about norwegian policies and ways of thinking are correct.

Interestingly enough, the government involved norwegian philosophers when
making plans for all the oil-money that was going to come in. This in turn
lead to the oil-fund we have today, where the government can only spend the
returns of it, and never dig into the actual fund itself.

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petercooper
_Interestingly enough, the government involved norwegian philosophers_

It makes me wonder what it'd be like if, as a nation, our upper house of
government were replaced with a long-standing group of politically independent
philosophers and other "wise people" (here in the UK there is a _little_ of
this, as the House of Lords has 26 "Lords Spiritual" who are all Church of
England bishops - something more secular but in a similar spirit would also be
nice).

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lamuerteflaca
The United States supreme court is the closest thing we have.

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tormeh
According to Norwegian Wikipedia, he got knighted in 2012.

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garagemc2
Beautiful story - truly exceptional man.

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sooper
I agree. He comments that "but things have mostly come in a fortunate order.
It’s got nothing to do with skill, it’s simply luck." To me this is completely
wrong. He had the thought to go to the Ministry and he made the best of a
great opportunity.

