Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar

The invasion of Iraq may well be remembered as the first oil currency war. Far from being a response to 9/11 terrorism or Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, Petrodollar Warfareargues that the invasion was precipitated by two converging phenomena: the imminent peak in global oil production and the ascendance of the euro currency.

Energy analysts agree that world oil supplies are about to peak, after which there will be a steady decline in supplies of oil. Iraq, possessing the world's second-largest oil reserves, was therefore already a target of US geostrategic interests. Together with the fact that Iraq had switched to paying for oil in euros-rather than US dollars-the Bush administration's unreported aim was to prevent further OPEC momentum in favor of the euro as an alternative oil transaction currency standard.

Meticulously researched, Petrodollar Warfareexamines US dollar hegemony and the unsustainable macroeconomics of petrodollar recycling,'pointing out that the issues underlying the Iraq war also apply to geostrategic tensions between the United States and other countries, including the member states of the European Union, Iran, Venezuela and Russia. The author warns that without changing course, the American experiment will end the way all empires end-with military overextension and subsequent economic decline. He recommends the multilateral pursuit of both energy and monetary reforms within a UN framework to create a more balanced global energy and monetary system-thereby reducing the possibility of future oil and oil currency-related warfare.

A sober call for an end to aggressive US unilateralism, Petrodollar Warfareis a unique contribution to the debate about the future global political economy.

William R. Clarkis manager of performance improvement at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research on oil depletion, oil currency issues and US geostrategy received a 2003 Project Censored Award and was published in Censored 2004. He lives in Columbia, Maryland.

One by one the various rationales given for the US invasion of Iraq evaporate into thin air, and the real reasons remain in question. The author of this book sees the rationale as oil and, perhaps more importantly, oil currency. He first describes the 2003 Iraq War as an effort to establish permanent military bases in the oil rich Gulf region before the onset of peak oil, the point in time when the world's production of oil is outstripped by demand. He then proceeds to discuss the role of petrodollar recycling in the spurring the Iraq invasion. Petrodollar recycling, to put it succinctly, refers to the idea that having the dollar as the default currency for global oil trading serves to artificially prop up the US economy and, in turn, US global hegemony. In this formulation, the Iraq war started as an effort to reverse Saddam Hussein's switch to the euro for Iraq's oil. In the end, the book suggests, this militarism is self-defeating, and Clark advocates more enlightened policies. Distributed in the US by Consortium Books Sales and Distribution.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

One by one the various rationales given for the US invasion of Iraq evaporate into thin air, and the real reasons remain in question. The author of this book sees the rationale as oil and, perhaps more importantly, oil currency. He first describes the 2003 Iraq War as an effort to establish permanent military bases in the oil rich Gulf region before the onset of peak oil, the point in time when the world's production of oil is outstripped by demand. He then proceeds to discuss the role of petrodollar recycling in the spurring the Iraq invasion. Petrodollar recycling, to put it succinctly, refers to the idea that having the dollar as the default currency for global oil trading serves to artificially prop up the US economy and, in turn, US global hegemony. In this formulation, the Iraq war started as an effort to reverse Saddam Hussein's switch to the euro for Iraq's oil. In the end, the book suggests, this militarism is self-defeating, and Clark advocates more enlightened policies. Distributed in the US by Consortium Books Sales and Distribution. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Reveals the background — and blowback from — the first oil currency war.

William Clark is the Manager of Performance Improvement at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine specializing in organizational change. Having conducted extensive research on oil depletion issues, oil currency issues and US geostrategy, his work received a Project Censored award in 2003, published in Censored 2004: The Top 25 Censored Stories, (Steven Stories Press, 2003). He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.