"The successful prosecution of the war would be good for the economy"--Lawrence Lindsey, Former head of President Bush's National Economic Council

"It is not clear how much longer foreign investors will sacrifice returns to hold dollars"--Dean Baker, Economist

Thursday, I was reflecting upon monetary value of the take over of the Iraqi oil fields. I was pondering, if the Bush administration is willing to provide Turkey with more than $6 billion in grants and $20 billion in loan guarantees to open up a Northern front from which to attack Iraq, then this war must be extremely valuable to Bush's interest. This interest is therefore neither an interest to liberate the Iraqi people nor an interest to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction.

I mentioned to my son James that this Bush's war against Iraq could have a prize of at least $1 trillion and today I realize how conservative I have been in identifying this prize as there are speculations that the price of war alone could be in the order of $1 trillion. Now, this background explains why the Bush administration is trying to bribe smaller countries in the Security Council to support Bush's war against Iraq.

Also, we learn that the United States continues to experience a chronic trade deficit with a record deficit of $435 billion for 2002 and I am asking how the United Sates can support an increasing trade deficit, today's of almost 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and an increasing foreign debt, today's of almost 30% of GDP. And I know why, by being the bully of the Free Market, taking from the poor and giving to the rich, and when the gap between the rich and the poor is too high to manage than we have the last refuge of the scoundrel: waging wars.

References

Pertinent articles published in Ensign

SoLNet Systems Johnson's Life http://www.lichfield.gov.uk/sjmuseum/lcc-sj-history.html

Davis, Bob 'Successful prosecution of the war would be good for the economy' September 16, 2002 The Wall Street Journal http://cndyorks.gn.apc.org/news/articles/iraq/goodforeconomy.htm

Baker, Dean Falling Exports Lead to Record Deficits for Month and Year February 20, 2003 Center for Economic and Policy Research

DeYoung, Karen and Peter Slevin Full U.S. Control Planned for Iraq (pdf) February 21, 2003 The Washington Post http://www.ftlcomm.com:16080/ensign/ensign2/pdfarchive/washingtonPost/des755.pdf

The New York Times (Editorial)Dollar Diplomacy (PDF) February 20, 2003 http://www.ftlcomm.com:16080/ensign/ensign2/pdfarchive/NYtimes/NYTdes755.pdf

REUTERS Study: Short Iraq War Would Cost World $1 Trillion February 20, 2003 http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0220-02.htm

Scott, Robert U.S.'s growing trade deficit fuels ballooning net foreign debt January 15, 2003 Economic Policy Institute http://www.epinet.org/webfeatures/snapshots/archive/2003/0115/snapshots20030115.html