Oil is perfectly plentiful right now, so we have no need for Iraq's massive oil reserves. But when production across the globe starts decreasing, it becomes an entirely different story.
And as for you saying, on a whim with absolutely no authority or evidence, that the transition to alternative fuels will be easy, read this:
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/...ivesToOil.html
In fact, I advise you to read the entire site.
I used to be naive like you and think the oil crisis wasn't real or that bad. I even wrote the website’s author about an alternative energy source I read about
: bacteria that can produce a petroleum-like substance. Yes, they’d thrive in the desert, which seemed perfect because the desert isn’t used for anything. But on top of it all, the bacteria “pools” would be fed from manure run off from the cattle farms in the region. It seemed like a perfect solution.
Then Mr. Savinar gave me a lesson in thermodynamics. It never occurred to me that this bacteria only have an energy profit ratio of 3:1, which pales in comparison to oil’s 10:1 EPR. And there lies the problem: on a global level, no combination of alternative sources can be as efficient as oil.