Charlie,

"Now, oil industry consultants are complaining that the oil fields were inadequately maintained and it will be months before they can be brought back to safe efficient production."

Now? - The state of Iraq's oilfields has been known about for years, with predictions ranging from a time-span of three to five years and estimated costs stated as being somewhere between 5 to 7 billion dollars - that is to get the Iraqi oil industry back to 1990 production levels.