Was Iraq's decision to change payment for its oil from dollars to euros a reason for the US to attack Iraq?

A payment in dollars can perfectly well be made with 'Eurodollars', which refers to dollar-denominated deposits in foreign banks. These could be the assets of someone who does not live in the United States and the liabilities of a financial institution that is in no way affiliated with the United States, whose only connection to the United States would be the units (dollars) in which the account is maintained. Even if the payment were with actual U.S. dollars from a U.S. bank account, this at most introduces a strictly transitory demand for transactions balances whose effects are probably not worth discussing.

To suggest that anyone in the current U.S. administration believed otherwise, and indeed was so attached to this nonsensical proposition that they would have advocated that the U.S. go to war on this account, can only be described as fervent attachment to a conspiratorial delusion."

1. For a number of technical reasons OPEC is unlikely to shift markets to euro-priced oil. There would be costs and inefficiencies involved, with no real significant benefits gained. The same applies to the buyers of oil.

2. There is good reason to believe that the euro's current appreciation vis-à-vis the dollar will not be sustained—the currency will have a hard time maintaining its current parity with the dollar. The euro's current strong value is taking a toll on euroland economic performance.

3. Even if the euro were to maintain its parity with the dollar, this would not cause the dollar to cease to be the international reserve currency. A two international reserve currency system is more unstable than one dominated by a single currency. Markets will move toward stability—and a currency with a historical track record.

4. The fate of the dollar and hence its use as an international reserve currency is largely in the hands of the United States—budget and trade deficits and low savings pose a greater threat to the use of the dollar as a reserve currency than any actions the EU or OPEC could undertake with regard to oil pricing.

5. Even though the United States may derive some economic benefit from having its currency serve as the dominant international reserve currency, the gains are not nearly as great as is often assumed—around 0.5% of GDP at best, much of which is offset by lost manufacturing exports and jobs associated with the strong dollar.

It follows that the notion the United States undertook the Iraq war over its concern with the consequences of Saddam Hussein denominating Iraq's oil sales in euros (and the direction that might move other producing countries) is little more than another web-based conspiracy theory."