Astounding currency devaluation.
After years of trade
sanctions, and rampant counterfeiting, the Iraqi Dinar has plummeted
from its pre-Gulf War value of over USD$3, to mere fractions
of one US cent. What was once the equivalent of more than
$82,500, can now be purchased for less than $50. Can Iraq's
economy achieve, in a free market, what it once achieved under
a brutal dictatorship? We don't know yet. But we
know she is not alone in her effort to do so.
Might a free Iraq thrive?
Above and beyond
the vast oil reserve, agriculture, and highly educated population,
there is now liberty in Iraq. We believe that where liberty
is sown, prosperity blooms.
We understand that liberty is always challenged. It's
challenged regularly in our own country. Why should a
fledgling democracy, on the heels of a 30 year dictatorial rule,
be immune?
We simply trust that the seed of freedom, implanted back
in 2003 with the fall of Saddam's regime, has germinated
in the hearts of the majority of the Iraqi people. We
see this as a wondrous thing, with tremendous possibilities.
The free world is behind Iraq.
Thirty-eight nations have reduced the debts owed to them in an effort to
bolster Iraq's economy. Billions of dollars are being
invested by international firms to create Iraqi markets. 18
billion dollars has been given to Iraq by the US State Department
to rebuild the nation's infrastructure. They are
receiving aid monetarily, militarily or both, from most of the
countries in the free world.
What if?
Let's say you decide
to err on the side of Iraqi prosperity. You take advantage of
the 100 year low value and buy 2 million Iraqi dinars. You look
them over, admire them, and show them to some friends as a curiosity.
The
security features alone will have them enthralled. Then
you stick them in a closet and go about your life.
A few years from now, you see a program on A&E portraying
the lives of average Iraqis. You see people drinking locally
bottled, genuine Pepsi Cola; not the ersatz they'd been consuming
for years. They are buying their cars from Baghdad Mitsubishi.
Their highly educated engineers, no longer waiting tables or
driving cabs, are engineering. The world's 2nd largest oil reserve
is producing more efficiently. Higher quality crops are being
harvested, in larger numbers.
You discover that things are going well enough in Iraq to have
raised the value of the the dinar to one US cent.
Your $2100 purchase would now be valued at $20,000.
This is no pipe dream.
This is a genuine possibility, with remarkable
ramifications. Organizations like
Operation
Iraqi Children working with the US military, are helping
to shape a new generation of freedom loving Iraqis. It won't
be long before these kids take their place in society. They
will recall their childhood as a time when powerful
Americans released them from the grip of a bloodthirsty
madman, and gave them the tools and support to build a
peaceful, prosperous society to call their own. The
incredible successes of the last two Iraqi elections seem to
clearly suggest that they want it, and will run with it.
Furthermore, the two pre-eminent causes of the collapse of
the Saddam dinar have been removed from the equation. Trade
sanctions have been lifted, and the currency's high tech
security features have been thwarting counterfeiters.
So, who are we?
We are freedom loving
Americans that believe a liberated, resource rich Iraq can become
a force in the world economy. We believe the efforts of the
coalition are noble, and will be effective.
We are not professional financial consultants or Wall Street
gurus. We can't predict the future or offer any investment advice.
But we will bet on Iraq.