Betrayal in Baghdad?

On Oct. 18, 2011, Exxon signed six exploration contracts in Kurdistan. The move represented a seismic shift in Iraq’s balance of power: Exxon was by far the largest company to align with the Kurds, and it openly betrayed Baghdad to do so.

via The Backfire in Baghdad – By Ben Van Heuvelen | Foreign Policy. Hmm:

A senior British oil executive has been shot dead in a suburb of the Belgian capital Brussels, it has emerged.

Maybe it really did backfire. Betrayal is pretty serious stuff.