Free Republic

BOISE, Idaho A Coeur d'Alene man has been ordered by the Idaho Department of Finance to quit selling Iraqi currency. Department officials say Jack Lee Smiley allegedly violated the Idaho Commodities Act by asking investors to purchase Iraqi dinars. Jim Burns, the investigations chief of the department's securities bureau, says Smiley told investors they'd make 33 times the money they invested when the dinars hit the world market late this summer. Burns also says Smiley didn't disclose risks involved with investing in foreign currencies and that the former school teacher was not qualified under state code to sell the commodities....

Basically, I am very much of the thought that Iraq will become a prospourous country, somewhere below Kuwait, UAE, etc short-term, but eventually, especially with democracy, will become the economic engine of the region. So, being of this mindset, I look towards the new secure Iraqi currency (introduced Oct. 15th). As of this moment, it costs somewhere between $1,000 - $2,000 US for 1,000,000 Iraqi Dinar. Kuwaiti Dinar, conversely, is worth nearly three times the American dollar, and the old Iraqi Dinar was worth more then the American dollar as recent as 1990. Now, obviously with my faith in the...

March 29, 2003 Either Take a Shot or Take a ChanceBy DEXTER FILKINS IWANIYA, Iraq, March 28 — At the base camp of the Fifth Marine Regiment here, two sharpshooters, Sgt. Eric Schrumpf, 28, and Cpl. Mikael McIntosh, 20, sat on a sand berm and swapped combat tales while their column stood at a halt on the road toward Baghdad. For five days this week, the two men rode atop armored personnel carriers, barreling up Highway 1. They said Iraqi fighters had often mixed in with civilians from nearby villages, jumping out of houses and cars to shoot at them,...