Here is what one person thinks about it:

---- Forwarded Message
From: "Faulhaber, Gerald"
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 08:20:16 -0500
To: Dave Farber
Subject: RE: Alternative View Of Why Iraq, Why Now?

"This is absolutely bizarre. The US vs. EU? The US is clearly the stronger economy and will be so for the foreseeable future. The EU is an important and significant market, but this idea of a "battle" is pretty ridiculous.

The US "had a monopoly on oil trade"? What is he talking about? It appears he means that oil trade is denominated in dollars, not euros or yen, and he seems to think this is important. It's not; nobody cares about how oil trade is denominated, not in a world of complete and efficient FX (foreign exchange) markets.

There's no doubt this is a very weird war, in which we (US citizens) are still waiting for a coherent explanation of what's going on from our government. I suppose this kind of total nonsense is what rushes in to fill the information gap the Bushies have left us with."