STOP PRESS
FINANCING THE WAR
The price of gold has jumped 30% over the past year. As preparations for
the war against Iraq reach fever pitch the price of gold continues to
escalate. The US holds 8149 tons of gold in reserve, to support the value
of its currency. It has by far the largest stockpile of any country or
organisation in the world. Germany has 3445 tons while the International
Monetary Fund has 3217 tons held in reserve. As the call and preparations
for war gather pace, investors are dumping stocks and shares and moving
into gold.
As the price skyrockets (it¹s expected to reach US$400 per ounce before the
US invades Iraq), the US government will begin selling some of its gold
reserves at these inflated prices to finance its war effort in Iraq. The
cynical way the gold market has been manipulated to finance the war is one
of the untold stories of the US campaign. The US government has driven the
price of gold up by slowly escalating tensions in the Middle East. As the
US President and his inner cabinet are the only ones who know when and if
they will invade Iraq, their financial advisors are sitting in the box seat
as far as making decision about when to sell and buy gold stocks.
Once the initial shock of the invasion subsides and the US government
controls Iraq¹s oil fields, the prices of gold will drop considerably. When
the price drops, the US Reserve Bank will once again enter the gold market
and rebuild its supplies. Whether this scenario occurs or not will to a
large degree depend on the amount of resistance that the US meets in Iraq.
A long drawn out war will have a major effect on the Wall Street markets.
If stock prices fall too low, the US will need to hold on to its gold
reserves to prop up its economic system.
The type of campaign the US will launch in Iraq and the resultant civilian
casualties that will occur will be determined by economic not strategic,
military or humanitarian factors. The US needs to bomb Iraq back into the
dark ages by using a massive deployment of firepower to ensure a rapid
victory. The number of civilians who will die from this campaign has more
to do with the fluctuations of the gold prices than any concern about
freeing the Iraqi people from a dictatorship.
