If the US fails in Iraq, the oil exporters will see that the US is unwilling to enforce the dollar monopoly. Oil exporters will be able to then pick and choose their currencies. In a simplistic example, they might be selling for dollars while they acquire euros, then announce that they will sell only for euros. Their euro holdings will increase in value while the dollar drops. Then they sell their euros and buy dollars cheap, then after a while, they announce that oil will be sold for dollars again.

My example is simplistic to illustrate the problem. They might have to be more creative than that, but that's the fundemental problem with so few major exporters. Oil is the most valuable commodity to the world economy, so it can be used to milk to death any fiat currency. If the world went to a gold standard, they wouldn't be able to do that. Then they'd just have all the gold. Essentially, oil would BECOME money and these exporting countries would have all of it. Right now, the dollar monopoly makes the dollar the world currency, and the oil exporters don't control the dollar. Iran's clear intent to break the dollar monopoly makes success in Iraq necessary.

So, I guess I have to vote for McCain...even if he is too old.