Some people have suggested that it was in fact an Iraqi that set them on the right path, after seeing it go wrong in his own country:

https://psmag.com/.amp/environment/iraqi-vikings-farouk-al-k...

> Norway’s anti–resource curse is often attributed to exceptionalism: Viking genes or the like. But one secret of its success—maybe the secret—is not Norwegian at all, but a twinkly 77-year-old Iraqi-born oil geologist named Farouk al Kasim.