This is a major investigation into an international scandal that should make headline news. Erin Banco, a young, intrepid Middle East reporter who specializes in the oil sector, draws on confidential documents that reveal how government officials in Iraqi Kurdistan rigged contracts to benefit themselves, rather than the local people.

She also looks at how the oil sector’s decline is impacting the military’s ability to fight the Islamic State group. Among the revelations are:

-- The book shows how the oil investment game in Iraqi Kurdistan was rigged to benefit private western energy companies that were connected to the Bush administration. U.S. and Iraqi officials carefully crafted a pathway for certain companies to clinch contracts over others.

-- The book reveals where the money from the oil contracts went -- into the pockets of Iraqi politicians or to well-connected businessmen from the U.S., UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia.

-- U. S. officials from the Bush administration clinched deals with major oil corporations like Exxon after they helped negotiate deals fro the companies during the Iraq War.

-- Politicians in Iraqi Kurdistan accepted kickbacks in the form of cash payments and cars from oil corporations that wanted to sign contracts in the region.

-- Kurdish politicians used western energy companies to expand the borders of their territory. They gave them contracts that included blocks that were not within the boundaries set out by the United Nations.