[Peace-discuss] Oil, Euros & OPEC

[paul michael king]

This may be one of the best articles I have read concerning this insane
war by our administration. The author, Paul Harris, believes that it has
to do with oil and maintaining American dollar hegemony in the world. Two
excerpts follow, but I would recommend reading the entire article to
anyone interested. (WARNING: There is economics involved!) Enjoy!

http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1083


[excerpt]

What precipitated all of this was not September 11, nor a sudden
realization that Saddam was still a nasty guy, nor just the change in
leadership in the United States. What precipitated it was Iraq's November
6, 2000 switch to the euro as the currency for its oil transactions. At
the time of the switch, it might have seemed daft that Iraq was giving up
such a lot of oil revenue to make a political statement. But that
political statement has been made and the steady depreciation of the
dollar against the euro since then means that Iraq has derived good
profits from switching its reserve and transaction currencies. The euro
has gained about 17 percent against the dollar since that time, which also
applies to the $10 billion held in Iraq's United Nations "oil for food"
reserve fund.

[excerpt]

The point of Bush's war against Iraq, therefore, is to secure control of
those oil fields and revert their valuation to dollars, then to increase
production exponentially, forcing prices to drop. Finally, the point of
Bush's war is to threaten significant action against any of the oil
producers who would switch to the euro. [like OPEC!]

..::Paul