I heard a new one about WMDs

[Just Saying]

Not about Syria but Iraq and I'm wondering if anyone else heard this.

Remember all that money that disappeared in Iraq? Well, the topic came up around someone who has defense contracts and the claim was that the real WMDs in Iraq were counterfeit dollars. Yes, Iraq was working to weaken our currency by making billions in fake American bucks and that's really why we invaded. Makes no sense to me but the person that said it was dead serious and is not stupid even if he's conservative.

Anyone heard this before? I think people believe what they want to believe particularly where money is involved but this was an excuse I hadn't heard.

[dflprincess]

1. Wasn't that the plot line in "The In-Laws"

Peter Falk's character stole the engraving plates from the U.S. mint to keep a dictator from getting his hands on them?

[LearningCurve]

4. Yes

Serpentine!

[Just Saying]

5. Never saw it

But wouldn't put it past him.

[HeiressofBickworth]

2. I think it doesn't matter

Bush and his co-conspirators decided before he was appointed/elected that he was going to invade Iraq. The precise reason used didn't matter -- they just needed something the public would accept. One could debate whether 9/11 was part of that conspiracy or merely a fortuitous event which gave the Bush administration the cause celebre they needed. The story you heard smacks of a CYA -- now that the weapons of mass destruction thing was proven wrong, a new story is out, still trying to justify what we already know was a cluster fuck.

[Just Saying]

6. Oh I agree.

That's what I meant by people believing what they want to. I was just surprised that I hadn't heard this excuse yet.

[Harmony Blue]

3. Don't buy it

to be honest.

[Just Saying]

7. Me either.

I guess those who profit from the MIC need to have excuses they can live with.

[reformist2]

8. I heard something similar, that Iraq was threatening to price oil in euros, not dollars.

Apparently the dollar gets some of its strength worldwide because oil is priced in dollars, which means anyone buying or selling oil on the international market has to use our currency to do so. I'm more than a little skeptical that shifting to euros would cause a collapse in the dollar.

[PoliticAverse]

10. They actually did start pricing it in Euros...

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/meast/10/30/iraq.un.euro.reut/

[RC]

11. And that was the real reason for invading Iraq.

Several other countries were also poised to start using the Euro. If that happened the American dollar was in very real danger of collapsing. Iraq was an example of what would happen for the others.

[PoliticAverse]

9. The country most implicated in counterfeiting dollars is North Korea. n/t