The First Defeat

Previously by Ron Holland: Where Will You Go When the Sovereign Debt Volcano Blows?

A short story showing how powerful elite interests and central bankers could manipulate American foreign policy using a black flag event in order to guarantee the American dollar remains the world's reserve currency. This is of course just a work of fiction and hypothetical case study and the characters have no relation to actual people, government officials or events.

“Generals always prepare to fight the last war.” ~ a proverb

Part One – The following is a short case study about a potential war and financial crisis starting in the Middle East.

The White House Situation Room

The preparation for operation “Protect Arab Spring & Democracy”

The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) called the meeting to order. "Mr. President, Vice President, selected members of the Cabinet, the Joint Chiefs and Senate and House Committee chairmen, it is a pleasure to be here today along with the Treasury Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve."

"Due to the sensitive nature of this information, everyone here is to treat the information we present today as top-secret in nature and any leaks will be dealt with by the harshest measures available including enhanced interrogation and even imprisonment in secure facilities ranging from Diego Garcia to Guantanamo. Any public knowledge of this meeting will present a clear and present danger to the government of the United States and will be treated accordingly. Is there anyone here that does not understand what I have just communicated? Then we will proceed.

Because of the heightened tensions with the Islamic Republic of Iran, our highest intelligence estimates indicate an immediate threat of Iranian sponsored terrorist attacks against oil pipelines, infrastructure, wells and drilling platforms, civilian oil workers as well as thousands of US military contractors within the next two weeks. It is the stated goal of the United States to protect and defend our allies in the Gulf region and their oil resources therefore we are now activating Operation "Protect Arab Spring & Democracy."

Note: Iran hasn’t actually invaded another nation for hundreds of years although their foreign policy today is very much about expanding their national influence and prestige as a regional power in the area.

To this end, a broad coalition of western nations will comply with official but private requests for allied troops to protect and defend the oil resources and infrastructure of the following nations: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the U.A.E. and Oman. In addition the rebel forces fighting Gaddafi as well as the governments of Tunisia, Algeria and Nigeria have requested French, German and Italian military defense forces to safeguard their oil regions and resources from terrorist threats.

The United Kingdom will safeguard Kuwait and their coastline while adjacent oil producing regions south to the Yemen border will be protected by American troops recently withdrawn from Afghanistan as well as additional units airlifted from Germany and the continental United States.

Note: Establishment history has somehow forgotten that the United Kingdom previously invaded and occupied both Kuwait and Iraq on June 22, 1941, on the same day that Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

In addition, due to a short-term shortage of American armor and ground troops, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) has been asked to temporarily protect a land supply route across southern Jordan south of the capital of Amman (permission has been granted by Jordan) to the Arab Gulf in Saudi Arabia to just north of the Bahrain causeway up to the Kuwait border which will be under their temporary defensive control. This will guarantee Israel oil and gas resources they have lost following the close of the Egyptian pipeline to Israel during 2011.

We expect a peaceful repositioning of troops to protect and defend the people of the Arabian Gulf region from the threat of Iranian terrorist attacks and outright invasion and nothing more. We are acting at the specific requests of the governments involved.

Please note that due to the sensitive nature of this action, official notification to Congress and the American people will be done as soon as the peaceful military repositioning has been completed. These actions have already been ordered by Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) and are like Presidential Executive Orders except these do not have to be published in the Federal Register and are not a matter of public record. This was required due to the urgency of the impending crisis and concern American national security.

This concludes the briefing so please remember everything you have heard here today is top-secret in nature. Please do not jeopardize yourselves, your government position or your families' security by any talk outside this room. Now the President, Vice President, Joint Chiefs, Treasury Secretary and Chairman of the Federal Reserve will remain for another meeting on an unrelated topic.

As the advisors and committee chairman left the situation room, the Treasury Secretary and Fed Chairman moved to the head of the long conference table as the CIA Director took a back seat.

The President spoke first, "Gentlemen we are now convening a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) and I've invited the Joint Chiefs of each military branch to participate as they will be charged with carrying out the secret Presidential Decision Directive. I believe the people around this table will understand the gravity of the situation after we hear from the Chairman of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Secretary. Mr. Treasury Secretary you may make your presentation and gentlemen feel free to ask questions at any time."

For the purposes of discussion, despite claims to the contrary, the room was filled with the usual handpicked power-elite, career climbing sycophants which make up the top echelons of power in Washington and in the military. Each had brown-nosed and back-stabbed their way to the top of their own bureaucracies and each had learned to survive and prosper in the world of Anglo-American elite politics, government and military service. Every individual had followed the path laid out by their sponsoring interests who had put them on the fast-track to career success.

That is all but one. Army Chief of Staff Thomas Jonathan Hudson was somehow different from all the rest at the table. After graduating from West Point, he had actually been promoted to this Army Chief of Staff position following a long and distinguished military career without playing the game of power elite politics. He had somehow arrived at the pinnacle of his army career because of his memory, leadership qualities and the fact that he always did his job and followed orders.

In addition, Thomas J. as his friends called him loved to read and study military history and he guessed his awakening started with his initial purchase of the Tom Wood's book The Politically Incorrect Guide To American History back in 2004. This transformed his reading into new areas of political history and economics about the Civil War and both world wars.

Later following the 2008 financial crash he delved even into finance and politics with Wood's Meltdown book and then Ron Paul's End the Fed. Although he didn't vote for Ron Paul in 2008 because he thought it improper to mix politics with military service, he had begun to get a thorough education in what had happened to the Constitution and his country he had sworn an allegiance to defend.

He privately attended several Mises Institute events and when at home logged on to read The Mises Blog, LewRockwell.com and The Daily Bell almost every day. He read Hayek and Ludwig von Mises including even Human Action.

Now at retirement age, Hudson was ready to leave the Army and had already typed his resignation letter when this Iran and oil crisis seemed to develop almost out of the blue. As always, the general was ready to serve his country again and do his best to protect our nation and national interests from the crazy Iranians. He remembered his oath:

I, (Thomas Jonathan Hudson), do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

And this is why we know what happened at this National Security Council meeting because Thomas Jefferson Hudson was a true patriot who loved his country and he just happened to be blessed with a photographic memory. If it was spoken or written down, he could recall the information.

The Secretary of the Treasury stood and made ready to begin his presentation. Thomas wondered why the Treasury Secretary was even at the NSC meeting much less presiding but he kept quiet out of respect for the office. At least the Treasury Department was constitutional and that was more than he could say for the Federal Reserve.

"Gentleman, our best intelligence estimates suggest the Iranian terrorists will hit major oil infrastructure targets across the Arabian Gulf exactly 2 weeks from today. Your job is to be pro-active and coordinate with the British, Israeli and of course our Army, Naval and Marine and Air assets to be positioned in the oil producing regions fully by that date. Our troops in Iraq will of course protect oil assets there as well as resist any Iranian army incursion should this happen. In addition, they will deal with any trouble from the Muqdata al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in Iraq and the IDF will screen the Saudi Arabian border fronting Iraq.

Thomas J. spoke up, "Sir, I assume when you said the Arabian Gulf you meant the Persian Gulf as we all describe the region." The Treasury Secretary really hated to be interrupted, "General, we never refer to the gulf as the "Persian Gulf" as this waterway is vital to American interests and filled with our oil reserves." In the future you will always describe it correctly as the "Arabian Gulf." Using the wrong term could convey Persian or Iranian dominance or right to the waterway and natural resources and this would be a big career killing mistake for you, do you understand?” Thomas J. answered quietly, "Yes Sir" and looked down at his notes.

Another general asked, "So this is a simple repositioning of military forces and we do not expect resistance as these governments have officially asked for the protection?" The Secretary replied, "we will probably be met with flowers except in the Shia areas of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain but resistance will be limited as the governments are all our official allies.”

Again, Thomas asked a question to the Secretary. "Sir, isn't most of the oil region of Saudi Arabia in Shiite areas which are a minority controlled by the Sunni majority? Shouldn't we be prepared for combat and what about all these color or Arab Spring revolutions now threatening these oil producing nations? I've even read where many of the movement leaders are urging their oil be priced in Euros rather than the falling dollar?”

Note, most of the oil fields and reserves of Saudi Arabia are in the eastern area near the gulf which is majority Shiite like Iran. Bahrain is majority Shiite but controlled by a small Sunni minority backed and supported by the Saudi Monarchy. Two thirds of the world’s oil reserves and 45% of the world’s natural gas reserves are located around the Arabian Gulf. Is it a coincidence that Iraq, Iran and Libya have previously voiced plans to price their oil outside the dollar?

The Treasury Secretary suddenly stiffened and his face turned a crimson red. “General, the policy of your government and the Treasury Department is a strong dollar policy. Of course, there will be short-term fluctuations up and down but this is nothing to be alarmed at. Our Arab allies will never price oil in any currency but the American dollar which will remain the world reserve currency for the foreseeable future.”

Thomas J again questioned, “But what about the news reports which suggest when the current governments are overthrown by the Arab Spring revolutions that the role of the dollar as the world reserve currency is finished?” The Treasury Secretary responded angrily, “our military defending these nations will make sure neither the extremist revolutions nor Iranian threats impact the oil resources or halt the pricing of the oil in dollars.”

Note: remember when oil is priced in dollars, America has a singular advantage over every other nation on the planet. For our imported oil, the Federal Reserve can just create more fiat dollars out of nothing. All other countries are forced to exchange their currencies for dollars and then buy oil. This translates into significant dollar balances which need to be converted into US Treasuries by all nations needing to purchase Arab oil as well as the oil producing nations which have to again park these dollars in Treasuries.

The Chairman of the Federal Reserve spoke up, “remember everyone especially you general that everything said in this meeting is top-secret. There would likely be a worldwide run on the dollar and a collapse of our currency and Treasury obligations should the United States be unable to continue the free purchase of oil and distribution of dollars provided by the Federal Reserve.

The cost of creating new currency and reserves is basically a free service provided by the FED to the federal government and as long as billions of dollars in oil are purchased each month, then the world will need our dollars and buy our Treasury obligations.

This is the real benefit of the US maintaining the dollar world reserve currency status at any cost and frankly the real reason we are occupying most of the oil fields and reserves. The world only gets “our” oil if they pay us – rather I mean our Arab oil producing allies in dollars and the dollars they must get from us.”

Thomas, “well gentlemen, what about the recent news reports from that Chinese credit rating service suggesting America has already defaulted because of the severe drop in the dollar verses other major currencies? The FED chairman replied, “General, if you know what is good for you, I suggest you stop reading those Australian hm., I mean Austrian economics articles on your “hate America” alternative media sites like “Lew Rockwell” or “The Daily Bell” and stay away from that freedom gadfly Ron Paul. We know you visit those reprehensible sites almost every day.”

Looking directly at Thomas, “Did you really think for a second we would not monitor your internet viewing habits from your home computer? You’ve asked your wacko questions, wasted our time and now we have to quickly finish this meeting. I order you to just listen and ask no more questions at this meeting.”

Thomas J. thought to himself, “Damn, these banksters monitor my email, telephone communications and my internet viewing habits. What the Hell has happened to my country? Then he wondered to himself, I guess what they say about the Patriot Act and the TSA may be right after all.

These guys aren’t protecting our Arab friends from Iran or the Islamic fundamentalists they claim are increasingly leading the revolutions. They are basically seizing the Middle East oil resources for the oil to use as a bargaining chip with Europe and specifically China.

Now China is both the major foreign holder of our Treasury obligations as well as the largest oil consuming nation in the world and they want to make sure these Arab governments continue to sell oil for dollars in order to delay the coming dollar and Treasury debt crash.

This is simply an invasion to prop up the dollar and steal their oil and nothing more. They claim this will be a simple military repositioning but I don't remember the flowers and cheering crowds welcoming us as promised by the Bush and Cheney in the Iraq War. Damn, this is just another central banker and resource war, kind of a modern day version of the Civil War. Instead of Fort Sumter or the faked Gulf of Tonkin attack this time they're blaming Iranian terrorism. Could these interests be planning the oil infrastructure attacks to provide the excuse for our troops to move in? Sounds like the fake Polish army invasion of Germany in 1939.

He thought back to growing up in Lexington, VA, playing on the grounds of Virginia Military Academy around the statues of Thomas Jackson who he was named after and Robert E. Lee. Remembering his four years at VMI he remembered the famed VMI cadet charge against the Union invaders while defending the Confederate States of America against another army out for financial and economic gains. Thinking to himself he guessed history and banking elites don't change very much.

Thomas J. stood up at attention and looked directly in the cowering eyes of the FED Chairman and the Treasury Secretary. Iit took all of his self-control to maintain his military bearing instead showing his total disgust for both men. “Sirs, you are committing my nation and my troops to a military operation which could result in massive casualties and a prolonged mission just to support the dollar which your past monetary policies have destroyed. Your goal is obviously to make your banking and Wall Street friends more blood money. I will not be part of a military invasion and occupation or a war decided in secret instead properly declared by Congress."

Then turning toward the Treasury Secretary, “I don’t care how many secret directives, hidden combinations or presidential dictatorial decrees you’ve scared or forced the President to sign. This is just like your bank bailout scheme except this time you are sacrificing the lives of my soldiers instead of the future prosperity of my country."

"Gentlemen and I use the term in derision rather than respect, I hereby immediately resign my military commission. All of you in this room are traitors to our nation and the republic if you are going to sit here and say nothing.”

Then thinking back to the forced suicide by Rommel demanded by the Nazi leadership, “and what are you going to do about it? Give me a choice of suicide by cyanide or do I get to use a pistol?"

Everyone held their breath and everything in the meeting room began to move in slow motion as each turned from the general and began nervously looking down at the conference room table. Even these men who had no shame were embarrassed and caught off-guard by the evident truth of his remarks.

After what seemed like minutes but actually only a few seconds, the CIA Director stood and replied. “General, we know you are tired and overworked and maybe you’ve seen too many World War Two movies. You need a rest therefore we will place you on temporary medical leave until you feel better and this operation is successfully concluded. Guards, escort the general to our private health facility here at Langley, make sure he has no recording devices and remind him how this attitude could jeopardize his pension as well as the security of his family. Also handcuff him as he might somehow injure himself.

"Gentlemen this meeting is adjourned, you know your objectives and timetables."

The meeting was over and exactly two weeks later to the day, while the armed forces of America, the UK and Israel were making final plans for the troop movements, without warning, a string of terrorist attacks against oil instillations, drilling sites and pipelines hit the Arab Gulf region from Iraq to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and down through Dubai, the U.A.E, and Oman.

Within minutes US and Israeli intelligence services were reporting Iran as being behind the attacks and public requests for Western troops to defend the oil fields and pipelines were coming in from each of the nations attacked. In addition, military and police actions against the so called Freedom Revolutions which according to the State Department had been infiltrated and taken over by Islamic extremists were begun across the region.

The world was amazed at how fast American troops, armor and air assets were transferred into the Arabian Gulf to defend our friends from whatever Iran might do next. The President requested temporary military help from Israel and their armor and motorized and helicopter troops quickly and professionally secured the long land corridor from Israel through Jordan to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf just north of Bahrain causeway up to the Kuwait border.

Notice was given that no western or Israel troops would venture near Riyadh or the holy cities of Saudi Arabia and that we were there to protect the freedom revolutions and defend democracy in the region. The fact there was no democracy in the region except for Israel did not become one of the talking points for discussion on the mainstream media.

Immediately after the public announcement of operation “Protect Arab Spring & Democracy”; US and UK cruise missiles began bombarding Iranian military installations, army, air and rocket batteries. Within 48 hours, the coalition troop repositioning had met their objectives, and faced Iran from Afghanistan in the north, across the border from Iraq, Kuwait and through the Saudi oil fields along the eastern coast to Qatar, the UAE and Dubai including Oman.

Iran had of course denied knowledge of or involvement with the destruction and terrorist attacks across the oil rich peninsula but all was quiet on the Eastern Front.

Iran threatened retaliation but their military forces except for the rocket battalions were all designed for an expected defensive action. Any military advancement anywhere along the line would be an open invitation for Allied air, naval and military superiority to crush the Iranian forces totally and completely.

Washington hoped and prayed for a military response but assumed that other than inaccurate rocket attacks by Iran, maybe Hezbollah and scattered Shiite attacks in the oil fields that they would do nothing. Iran was too smart to commit national suicide and take on the combined military forces of Israel, UK and the United States. Still, hoping for maybe an Iranian naval response against the 5th Fleet that would allow the US an easy victory, Iran naval assets and naval based were exempted from the assault.

The President of course spoke to the nation and Congress with some opposition by Ron and Rand Paul and a few non-interventionists on the extreme left and right but they quickly approved the new troop movements as requested by the Arab governments. Over the next few days, there were scattered terrorist attacks and demonstrations against the troop deployments but nothing but rhetoric came from Iran.

The Islamic Republic of Iran

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had certainly been caught off guard personally by the terrorist attacks on the Saudi and other oil installations and at first he assumed the Revolutionary Guards were to blame trying to start a war between Iran and their Sunni neighbors. But then when the cruise missile attacks began immediately along with the massive troop movements by the western forces he had to admit the truth. The Americans had moved first. No matter, his long planned response to a future Israel attack on Iran would simply change targets.

First he ordered as many small fishing boats and pleasure craft as possible to the main Iranian naval base at Bandar Abbas just opposite the Strait of Hormuz. Then pulling out an Iranian military contingency plan designed to destroy as much of the Arabian Peninsula oil production as possible if Iran ever completed the planned number of nuclear devices, he tossed the booklet in the waste basket and reached for his favorite English book, One Second After, dog-eared from so much bedtime reading.

He waited for the general in charge of the rocket forces to arrive. Ahmadinejad remained in his office but while waiting he discarded his usual casual attire and put on a military uniform.

As General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the IRGC commander-in-chief entered the President’s office, Ahmadinejad was unusually to the point. “General you can forget our earlier theoretical discussions about Israel. You have stated on many occasions that ‘Our missiles are ready to be fired at anytime and anywhere. We were able to reduce the weight of our missiles, and this provides them with great precision.’ Is this correct?”

Jafari was very nervous as he never had really expected to fire his missiles and rockets at American forces but he managed a very loud and confident, “yes Mr. President if Allah wills it.” “Very well then follow through with your planned attack as has been approved by the Iran Revolutionary Council – but one of your rockets, one of the Shibab-3’s is to be retargeted to the following coordinates and I now have our best rocket scientists and nuclear experts calculating what is necessary for it to detonate exactly 30 miles above the desert.”

Jafari was concerned, had the president lost his mind? The location was 500 miles from anything. Iran with so much effort, international opposition and at a high financial cost had managed to build one crude nuclear device. Now he wants to waste our only real deterrent against a possible American invasion with an insane demonstration for Saudi Arabia in the middle of Rub al Khali (the Empty Quarter) of the uninhabited Saudi Arabian desert. A land larger than France, Belgium and the Netherlands combined with sand dunes that reach 1,000 feet high.

He had to speak up. “Mr. President, if we detonate our nuclear weapon there or even high above the desert, no one will even know we did it.” He waited for a response from Ahmadinejad but nothing came but sort of a whisper as the President seemed deep in thought, mumbling something like “but yes they will” and the President added, “thank you for the visit and dedication to our nation – you may go now.”

US Central Command, Bahrain

To have apparently been behind the attacks on Arab Gulf oil installations, the Iranians were very slow to respond to the situation. American naval assets had remained near the US naval base in Bahrain where the Fifth Fleet and Central Command were headquartered. The navy would welcome any sneak attacks by the Iran or their Revolutionary Guard Corps by submarine, speedboat or rocket forces.

The world expected a military response probably a rocket attack and on the 5th day, hundreds of Iranian missiles and rockets flew toward US military bases In Iraq and toward ports and oil facilities primarily in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Major cities were also targeted as the guidance systems were often obsolete and most rockets came down miles from their intended targets.

There were a large number of various types of Iranian rockets along with a few of the more modern Shibab-3 versions. During the height of the rocket attack which occurred at midnight, radar and a few troops on the ground might have seen a brief high level explosion far larger than the many missile explosions downed by western anti-missile defense systems but the high altitude made the nuclear explosion almost invisible. The explosion was a bright green and as quickly as it appeared, it was over.

Some of the rockets had obviously hit major power generating facilities and electrical transmission lines as within a 400 mile radius of a point southeast of the Saudi Capital, the entire electrical grid and all communications were out. This included most of the Saudi oilfields in the eastern part of the nation, down to and including the United Arab Emirates to just past Dubai plus the oil region of Oman in the south and up to and including Qatar and the small island nation of Bahrain in the north where the US fleet was based.

Our military forces in Bahrain south to Oman were in position but now everything was dark and communications were out cold. It was late at night but there were no vehicle lights on the highways, cell phone, radio and internet communications were out and nothing moved. It seemed as if everything of an electronic nature in the entire region was knocked out.

Flash lights worked but night vision didn’t. Hand held automatic weapons were still operational but tanks, radar, trucks and military vehicles wouldn’t start and neither aircraft nor ships would work. American nuclear powered aircraft carriers sat still in the water buffeted by the wind and waves and the reactors began to overheat but no one knew about this yet because all electronics were out.

No one knew what had happened except for a few of the top leadership and scientists in Iran. One of the hundreds of rockets fired west over American military forces had been fitted with Iran’s primitive but first nuclear warhead. It had exploded as planned 30 miles above the Saudi desert harmlessly killing only a few buzzards directly under the explosion. The explosion had been the first EMP attack in history.

After the EMP Attack

The next morning, American troops positioned near the coast and beaches of the Arab Gulf including Bahrain were all up early watching the eastern sky for sunrise as communications were out, command and control were non-existent and everyone was tired of stumbling around all night in the dark. As the sun began to rise over the eastern horizon they first noticed pelicans floating way out to sea but upon closer inspection the birds appeared to be small boats and later some of the boats were larger and filled with troops and military vehicles.

Suddenly the sky was filled with Iranian missiles targeting the troop concentrations, followed by the Iranian air force using old obsolete aircraft but aircraft with electronics not destroyed by the EMP wave because they were based out of the weapon range. Then came helicopter gunships etc., the Americans had no way to contact the chain of command, they began firing at the boats with machine guns and rifle fire but there was no anti-aircraft defense systems working. The hummers and armor wouldn’t start and the world’s most technologically advanced fighting force had no radar, command and control or communications.

Everyone was on foot in one of the hottest places on the earth and there was no water, the water pumps didn’t work, no power or air-conditioning. The American army had been reduced to a World War One level fighting force without phone, transportation or even vintage biplanes to observe the enemy. Against them now hitting the beaches with armor, command and control and air resources was the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards, mad as hell and ready for revenge.

By the end of the second day, without water, knowledge or communications with the outside world, little food and no way to retreat other than walk across 500 miles of desert, the largest American army to surrender since Bataan, after a brave and determined defense surrendered to the Islamic Republic of Iran armed forces.

At the same time the American fleet including 3 aircraft carriers and support ships as well as all of the aircraft now totally inoperable surrendered to the small Iranian navy. The aircraft carriers were scuttled and sent to the bottom much like the German fleet at Scapa Flow following the German surrender after World War One.

The American sailors were determined not to allow the carriers to fall into Iranian hands. This was probably best for both sides as the aircraft electronics were totally destroyed and the nuclear reactors powering the carriers would soon reach critical mass like the Japanese reactors following the recent earthquake and tidal wave.

The brief war was over and although a historical defeat for the United States, additional American military assets in Iraq and around the world were not impacted by the single EMP blast. Washington could still nuke Iran, destroy the Iranian invasion force and win the war given a few months but there was another problem. Following the EMP attack, the most optimistic American projections were at least a year before oil production and exports could be resumed from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman even after the Iranian troops were forced out.

The only two major oil producing nations left in the region were Iraq and Iran and within a couple of days, oil had reached over $350 dollars a barrel up from $100. More importantly the Arab politicians and governments which had asked for US troops were blamed along with the US for the brief war and revolutions quickly toppled each regime.

China promised to immediately send the technical expertise, oil rigs and pipeline equipment required to fix the fried electronics in the oil fields and pipelines. They guaranteed oil production and exports would be restored within 90 days rather than 12 months at no cost to the nations involved.

The only requirement was all Arab reserves in dollars were to be transferred into a special basket of Asian and European currencies including the euro, the Swiss franc and gold within the next year. Of course the Chinese said no oil would be allowed to be priced in dollars until the financial crisis ended but this really wasn’t a real issue for debate or discussion.

In the first 30 days following the end of the dollar pricing of oil and the end of American dollar world reserve currency status, the dollar lost 80% of its value in relation to European currencies and gold was trading at $5,000 an ounce.

Were the Chinese bluffing on their rebuilding time, no one really cared as the US military returned first to Iraq and later to other bases at home and around the world but no troops or military remained inside the region now known by all the world as the “Persian Gulf."

When The Dollar Dies (Part Two) will discuss what happened to the US and European economies and the Treasury bond market following the death of the dollar, the American national debt collapse and how the Anglo-American banking elites attempted to survive and prosper from the revenue actions which followed the First Dollar War in the Middle East. We will also discuss the necessary steps Americans need to take today in order to avoid the future impact of a collapse whether it develops from foreign policy, war or a domestic political or global financial crisis.

The Electromagnetic Pulse threat is real and I have actually dramatically toned down the threat and coverage area in order to work this new kind of nuclear weapons system into the story. What happened within a 400 mile radius from the blast zone could cover most of the continental United States if the height of the blast was far higher.

Ahmadinejad’s favorite English book, One Second After by William R. Forstchen is the best book and novel on the subject and horrifying aftermath which I have read to date. I strongly urge readers to consider buying the book and more information can be found online.

Quoting from Forstchen: “MP is a real threat, I believe the most underestimated threat in the history of our country. In the late 1930s we completely underestimated the Japanese and the potentials of a new technology. . .carrier based aviation. I've written two novels with Newt on this subject. No one took the threat seriously and on December 7, 1941 close to three thousand Americans died. The war that ensued would claim close to half a million American lives. Pearl Harbor was a blow we could recover from and go on to eventual victory. An EMP strike? I believe it would be the death of America, the death of our children. . .it would be the end of the America we cherish and love. . .and plunge the few who survive into a new dark age.”

The Commission to Access the threat to the United States from an EMP attack website provides an in-depth analysis of the threat and conditions following the use of the weapon. Please review the website at www.EMPcommission.org.

A final note from Ron Holland: I am not convinced whether the EMP threat is real or another fear based meme out of Washington created by neocon interests to frighten the American people into more Middle East invasions and occupations. Still, the EMP threat is an easy way to quickly finish a war scenario for this case study. I fear the threat of a US led invasion of the Persian Gulf oil producing nations is real but the aftermath of defeat following a quick initial success is more likely to have ominous parallels with Iraq and Afghanistan than the quick victory and following short-term US defeat as shown in this fictional story.

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