War With Iran Has To Happen

By Richard Salbato

When I wrote about and supported the attack on Iraq, I was attacked by even my close friends, saying that even the Holy Father, John Paul II, preached against the war. They also pointed out that the motives for the war were really oil and money and not the threat of Iraq against other countries. I agreed with all that they said, but still supported the war because I have many friends from Iraq who suffered under the dictator and his Eastern European private army. I pointed out that even if the motives were wrong, the results could not be worse than not going in to protect these people. Now that the trial of the dictator is taking place, we are seeing the horrors of his dictatorship. I am not happy with how the war was conducted or even how the democratic elections going on now are progressing but still the people are better off now than before and that is important. Even the Catholic Bishops in Iraq admit this. It is not a perfect constitution but at least it is a constitution.

What now? Peace in Iraq can never take place as long as terrorists in Syria and Iran move across the border terrorizing and disrupting the government for only one reason, to prevent a government of the people and by the people. Syria's dictatorship wants control over Lebanon and Iraq. Iran wants a holy war throughout the entire world.

In previous Newsletters I have tried to show that it was the West that brought us to this point. I did not mean Western Governments, but Western Oil Giants, who (sometimes without governments knowing it) manipulate the actions of governments to protect their oil and money monopoly. I still believe that they (the Oil Giants) brought us to this point by supporting all sides against the middle.

But now, what must President Bush, America, England, France, Germany and all other civilized countries do? Note that I do not include the United Nations, which is a worthless organization. My own opinion is that we must go to war. Sanctions would be the worst thing we could do and would harm the people and not the government. It would harm Western Countries more than the Iranian Government, who wants it to happen because of the 20% oil reserves that Iran has and the switch to other currencies.

Yes! Because of the fear that China would use this as an excuse to attack Formosa (Taiwan), there is the fear of a World War, but this still it has to happen and now. Let me explain why.

War To Save The Dollar

I know this may sound strange, and do not ask me why it is and how it happened, but all oil buying or selling is done with U.S. Dollars and only U.S. Dollars. If China buys oil from Sudan, it must use U.S. Dollars for the trade. Another thing you may find hard to believe is that all these oil transactions go through two (what we might call) oil stock exchange or exchange centers, called the New York Mercantile Index and the London International Petroleum Exchange, both owned by the same bankers that own and control the Federal Reserve Board that prints U.S. Dollars and sells them to the American Government.

These are not US government exchanges but privately owned exchanges just like the Federal Reserve Board. Both these oil exchanges are located in Atlanta, Georgia. They are the oil exchanges for the world's global oil market and there are no others. Obviously, both only accept Dollars. To me, this seems ridiculous that Russia selling oil to Finland must use Dollars and go through a money exchange in Atlanta, GA, USA. But that is the way it is. Do not ask me how it got that way.

Since the dollar is the money needed to purchase oil, every country around the globe must hold U.S. dollars. By having to earn or borrow U.S. currency to purchase oil, the value of the dollar is artificially supported because of the demand for oil. Supporting the value of the dollar is vital to the economy of the United States. If the demand for the dollar overseas would diminish, every country and person holding U.S. dollars would quickly experience the same percent decrease in their monies purchasing power, or what we call huge inflation.

As long as the greenback reigns supreme as the international currency for oil purchases, catastrophic economic collapse of the U.S. economy will be prevented. Even as the United States national debt approaches $8 trillion, and despite the fact that for all practical purposes the federal government of the United States has been legally bankrupt since 1933, the U.S. dollar has survived depressions and recessions, bull and bear markets, inflation and deflation, fluctuating interest rates, and every other pressure and strain placed upon it.

Five years ago, Saddam Hussein of Iraq stopped accepting U.S. dollars for their oil. Saddam Hussein switched the currency required to purchase Iraqi oil to the euro. Selling oil through the U.N. Oil for Food Program, Iraq converted all of its U.S. dollars in its U.N. account to the euro. Shortly thereafter, Iraq converted $10 billion in their U.N. reserve fund to the euro. By the end of 2000, Iraq had abandoned the U.S. dollar completely.

Two months later the United States invaded Iraq, the Oil for Food Program was ended, the country’s accounts were switch back to dollars, and oil began to be sold once again for U.S. dollars. No longer could the world buy oil from Iraq with the euro. Universal global dollar supremacy was restored.

Today there’s a greater threat to dollar supremacy in the global oil market. It is Iran’s goal to open their version of the New York Mercantile Index and London’s International Petroleum Exchange. Iran is projected to launch a third oil exchange in March 2006 called the Iran Oil Bourse IOB. This exchange would only accept the euro for oil sales.

This means that the entire world could begin purchasing oil from any oil-producing nation with euros instead of dollars. The Iranian plan isn’t limited to purchasing one oil-producing country’s oil with euros. Their plan will create a global alternative to the U.S. dollar. If opened, the Iran Oil Bourse will further the momentum of OPEC to create an alternate currency for oil purchases worldwide. China, Russia, and the European Union are evaluating the Iranian plan to exchange oil for euros, and giving the plan serious consideration.

 If these countries drop the dollar in favor of the euro and support the demise of the U.S. dollar as the international currency for global oil purchasing, America’s debt will end in default, the trade deficit will likely double, and the dollars that we carry in our wallets will be worth less, much less, maybe as much as 50% less.

Come March 2006, Iran will actually be operating an oil exchange and China will be able to purchase oil from Russia through the Iran Oil Bourse, and pay for it with petro-euros. Suddenly, hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars will no longer be necessary for every nation of the world to hold so that they can purchase oil. If nations desire to dump all their dollars, they will be able to do so and still be able to purchase oil.

This Will Not Help The Euro

On Friday, January 20,2006, Iran's Central Bank governor Ebrahim Sheibani said Iran had begun moving its foreign currency reserves from European banks and transferring them to an undisclosed location as protection against possible U.N. sanctions. The transfers are already underway. Estimates put Iranian funds in Europe at as much as $50 billion.

Europe cannot survive if the American economy crashes because they are so tied to each other. Not only that but using Euros as an exchange in Iran is just a first step to converting to an Asian Currency and Europe knows it. Unlike the New York Mercantile Index and London’s International Petroleum Exchange which holds the money on American soil, which Europe trusts, Iran's oil exchange would hold its money on its soil, which Europe does not trust.

Iran probably could not make a real atomic bomb for 3 more years, but giving that her president is quite insane and could take the world economy down with this IOB, I am making my bet on a war before March 1, 2006. This is not about a bomb but about money and Iran's ability to blackmail the economies of the world. The West, Europe and America cannot let that happen considering that this man is very crazy.

Is Iran's President Crazy?

As Iran rushes towards confrontation with the world over its nuclear program, the question uppermost in the mind of western leaders is "What is moving its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to such recklessness?" Political analysts point to the fact that Iran feels strong because of high oil prices, while America has been weakened by the insurgency in Iraq.

But listen carefully to the utterances of Mr Ahmadinejad and there is another dimension, a religious messianism that, some suspect, is giving the Iranian leader a dangerous sense of divine mission.

In November, the country was startled by a video showing Mr Ahmadinejad telling a cleric that he had felt the hand of God entrancing world leaders as he delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly last September.

When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."

The most remarkable aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's piety is his devotion to The Hidden Imam, the Messiah-like figure of Shia Islam, and the president's belief that his government must prepare the country for his return.

One of the first acts of Mr Ahmadinejad's government was to donate about £10 million to the Jamkaran mosque, a popular pilgrimage site where the pious come to drop messages to The Hidden Imam into a holy well. All streams of Islam believe in a divine savior, known as the Mahdi, who will appear at the End of Days. A common rumor - denied by the government
but widely believed - is that Mr Ahmadinejad and his cabinet have signed a "contract" pledging themselves to work for the return of the Mahdi and sent it to Jamkaran.

Iran's dominant "Twelver" sect believes this will be Mohammed ibn Hasan, regarded as the 12th Imam, or righteous descendant of the Prophet Mohammad. He is said to have gone into "occlusion" in the ninth century, at the age of
five. His return will be preceded by cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed. After a cataclysmic confrontation with evil and darkness, the Mahdi will lead the world to an era of universal peace.

This is similar to the Christian vision of the Apocalypse. Indeed, The Hidden Imam is expected to return in the company of Jesus. Iran's President, Mr Ahmadinejad, appears to believe that these events are close at hand and that ordinary mortals can influence the divine timetable.

The prospect of such a man obtaining nuclear weapons is worrying. The unspoken question is this: is Mr Ahmadinejad now tempting a clash with the West because he feels safe in the belief of the imminent return of the Hidden Imam? Worse, might he be trying to provoke chaos in the hope of hastening his reappearance?

The 49-year-old Mr Ahmadinejad, a former top engineering student, member of the Revolutionary Guards and mayor of Teheran, overturned Iranian politics after unexpectedly winning last June's presidential elections. The main rift is no longer between "reformists" and "hardliners", but between the clerical establishment and Mr Ahmadinejad's brand of revolutionary populism and superstition.

Its most remarkable manifestation came with Mr Ahmadinejad's international debut, his speech to the United Nations. World leaders had expected a conciliatory proposal to defuse the nuclear crisis after Teheran had restarted another part of its nuclear program in August.

Instead, they heard the president speak in apocalyptic terms of Iran struggling against an evil West that sought to promote "state terrorism", impose "the logic of the dark ages" and divide the world into "light and dark countries". The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to "hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace".

In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN. "I felt it myself too," Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. "I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders
did not blink. It's not an exaggeration, because I was looking. "They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic."

Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that "they couldn't believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad".

Their sneaking suspicion is that Iran's president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and - who knows - speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam.

2006 may spell the end for the America Dollar.

The West Is Getting Ready For War Now

The U.S., Great Britain and Israel are preparing to attack Iran. The main reason for invading Iraq is to stop it from selling oil in Euros and then converting these to other currencies, and not as you will be told, a Nuclear threat. Iran has plans to dump the dollar come March 2006 and that is why I am betting that the war will start on or before that date.

U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow issued a warning recently that the U.S. Government is on the verge of collapse - as the statutory debt limit imposed by Congress of $8.184 trillion dollars would be reached in mid-February - the government would then be unable to continue its normal operations. Considering the current total U.S. debt stands at $8.162 trillion dollars, once the official debt ceiling ($8.184 trillion) is reached, the U.S. government’s credit abroad (its borrowing power) is gone. Those countries (mainly China) who presently keep America afloat by holding U.S. Treasury Notes, will most likely no longer continue doing so.

Bank Of America and Compass Bank managers (probably all other U.S. banks too) have been instructing their employees in the last few weeks on how to respond to customer demands in the event of a collapse of the U.S. economy - specifically telling the employees that only agents from the Department Of Homeland Security will have authority to decide what belongings customers may have from their safe deposit boxes - and that precious metals and other valuables will not be released to U.S. citizens. The bank employees have been strictly prohibited from revealing the banks’ new "guidelines" to anyone. However, employees have been talking to friends and family.

The next time you visit your bank, ask them about it - then ask yourself, why is this information being kept secret from customers and the public - what’s really going on?

FEMA has activated and is currently staffing its vast network of empty internment camps with armed military personnel - unknown to most Americans, these large federal facilities are strategically positioned across the U.S. landscape to "manage" the population in the event of a "terrorist" attack, a civilian uprising, large-scale dissent ,or an insurrection against the government. Some of these razor-wired facilities have the capacity of detaining a million people.

The Patriot Act and the US Senate’s vote to ban habeas corpus (Nov 14th) - along with George W. Bush having signed executive orders giving him sole authority to impose martial law, suspend habeas corpus and ignore the Posse Comitatus Act, have together pretty much destroyed any notions of freedom and justice for Americans.

Considering the U.S. Treasury Notes that China currently holds (which keeps the U.S. economy going)...Will China continue to support a country’s economy (the U.S.) whose military launches a strike against Iran?

My guess is that China will do what is good for China, and most of China's wealth comes from America, and she will not bite the hand that feeds her. As for Russia, she is Tiger without teeth. Russia has great Nuclear might, which she will never use, and no other useful military force. In time, China can be too strong to confront but not now.

My opinion is that the only way this could evolve into a World War III is if the West waits too long to go to war with Iran. This would result in a Dollar crash, then a world wide economic crash, then destabilized governments, and then maybe a world war. It may be hard to convince congress or the American people, but then maybe we will see another Pearl Harbor first.

It would be ideal if the West took out the Power Plants and the government without harming the people and the country but that does not seem to be what is being prepared as I watch these government leaders meet behind closed doors.

It Is Too Late Now But ---

We should have become oil independent (and we could have) with Nuclear Power Plants for Electricity, and hydrogen and vegetable fuel for transportation. Iceland is about to become completely free of oil fuel by converting to hydrogen taken from water by using electrodes to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The Hydrogen electrons then pass through a conductor that creates the current to power an electric engine.

Hydrogen fuel now costs two to three times as much as gasoline, but gets up to three times the mileage of gas, making the overall cost about the same. As an added benefit, there are no carbon emissions — only water vapor. By the middle of this century, all Icelanders will be required to run their cars only on hydrogen fuel, meaning no more gasoline.

In Europe some countries are starting to mix vegetable oil with gasoline to reduce oil dependency. France has almost totally converted all their electric needs to Nuclear. But America has done nothing to reduce oil dependency because of oil lobbyists, who poor millions into political campaigns, and now we are at the verge of war with no other option. If you control oil, what do you care if the dollar crashes, people just pay more for the one thing they have to have in every walk of life, black gold.