US Dollars Exported To Pay Iraqi Civil Servants Wed Apr 16 2003 11:41:36 ET As the U.S. turns from bombing Iraq to rebuilding it, the U.S. government is airlifting dollars from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to replace - - at least temporarily -- the discredited Iraqi currency! The WALL STREET JOURNAL is reporting on Wednesday: As an initial step, American officials charged with the reconstruction will use small- denomination bills to make 'emergency' payments to hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civil servants in an effort to quiet civic unrest and to stabilize the chaotic Iraqi economy. Using U.S. dollars will make the U.S. currency the de facto currency, at least in the interim -- a move that could prove controversial in the Arab world, but one that would give the Iraqis a currency that will retain its value despite the uncertainties about the country's reconstruction. www.drudgereport.com [the title of the thread is from a man who yelled each word louder in answering a reporter who had asked him what he expected now that the US had liberated Iraq] --------------------------------- This move to dollarize will have people clamouring for their dictionary to make sure they spell hegemoney correctly But in reality, how is an economy going to function when its currency has been wiped out through looting of banks?
Bill Maher brought this slogan up on his show a couple of weeks ago. I enjoy watching his show "Real Time" on HBO, but it always seems that whatever conservative guest is on at the time is always outnumbered 3-1 by Bill, Arianna Huffington, and an African-American guy (Michael Dison, I believe) who is eloquent at mixing rap with rhetoric.