The dollar reason for the Iraq war- March 13, 2009

In finance the concept of a reserve currency is extremely important. A reserve currency is an anchor currency that is held in large quantities by governments around the world. A country that can position its currency as a reserve currency can borrow money at a better rate, establish a large demand for its currency, and sit at the helm of currency decisions impacting world markets. The U.S. dollar is the most important reserve currency although this is unlikely to be the case the moment China and other governments conclude U.S. taxpayers are unable to service the interest on the national debt.

When one nation can dominate as the global reserve currency, that nation is at an economic advantage because commodities can be attained at less cost relative to other nations. One reason for the economic "leg up"  is because other countries around the world incur the expense of exchanging their currency to the reserve currency to trade products in the global market (e.g., oil and gold).

Saddam Hussein, in November 2000, switched from the dollar to the euro for Iraqi oil contracts. This action, if left unaddressed, was feared by some to lead to other efforts that would bypass dollars and thereby threatened the U.S. dollar as the world currency reserve.

Any country in the world that threatens the U.S. dollar as the world reserve currency becomes an automatic target for intervention. Understanding this fact can help you understand why Venezuela and Iran are currently in the "hot seat" while greater threats to U.S. national security such as nuclear armed Pakistan is not. The intervention in Iraq to maintain the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency is rarely communicated by the members of government or the corporate media. Understanding the dollar as a top reason for the invasion of Iraq is also a step in the direction of understanding why Afghanistan remains occupied. Afghanistan is a key strategic country to maintain the role of the U.S. dollar by facilitating U.S. intervention in Iran or at a minimum frustrating China's land access to Iran.

The deception of masking the real reasons for attacking Iraq continued on February 27th, 2009 when President Obama, using carefully chosen words, gave the appearance he was ending the war in Iraq. 

Here is what happened. Instead of honoring his campaign promise to end the Iraq War, he actually announced the criminal occupation of Iraq is continuing indefinitely. President Obama did this by announcing there will be an occupation force of 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq for at least three more years. He then left the door open to keep the 50,000 occupation troops in Iraq permanently. Obama's double talk also included ignoring the approximately 150,000 people in the occupation force working for private mercenary firms including Xe (Xe is the new name of the Blackwater mercenary firm).

The British once fooled their public for 33 years that their imperial occupation of Egypt would end. The technique that allowed their occupation to continue was about every ten months a senior government official would announce a two year withdrawal plan. Most of the public would be fooled as are many Americans who watched President Obama and have concluded there is no need to expend energy working to end the Iraq War.

Does this sound hard to believe? If yes then ask yourself why President Obama has kept the Bush team of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, General Petraeus, and General Odierno to oversee the continuation of the illegal occupation in Iraq. 

For the record, on February 27th, President Obama should have told the American people the truth. The truth is the dollar along with oil and Iraq's water resources are the real reasons for the Iraq War. When you understand the role of the dollar you realize that there is no good economic news on the horizon. The war spending and the bailouts of Wall Street are key factors leading to the devaluation of the dollar. The price for this will be paid by ordinary Americans and people across the planet as illustrated by what happened in Argentina.

By Dave Dionisi

To understand the broader deception for why Iraq was attacked in 2003, search this site for the many excellent resources on this subject or read the book American Hiroshima.