William Engdahl argues that the real motivation for the war on Iraq was the defense of the worldwide fiat dollar standard. (link). Saddam had reached an agreement with several Euro nations to start selling oil for Euros. If a sufficient fraction of the oil trade were conducted in Euros, the need for every non-oil-producing nation in the world to accumulate dollars to buy oil would be shifted to Euros. They would sell dollars and buy Euros, which would result in a dramatic decline in the dollar and probably a crisis.
