Baghdad's Bull Market
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"Make your patriotism pay off." That’s the pitch at Why-Buy-Dinar.com, one of dozens of websites that challenge stay-the-course Americans to put their money where their mouths are by buying up Iraqi banknotes on the cheap. Ten bucks gets you a "Patriot Pack" containing a crisp new 1,000-dinar note. Okay, it's only worth about 68 cents, but as soon as Iraq becomes a well-oiled capitalist democracy, the website claims, that banknote's value could increase a whopping 4,412 times to $3,000. Dinar dealer Darren Chabluk, a.k.a. "Dr. Dinar," says dinar speculation is booming despite the "dream stealers" covering up good news from Baghdad. "As long as there's no nuclear war in Iraq," he says, "I believe over the next five to ten years that a doubling of your money is highly possible." As Why-Buy-Dinar's president, Matthew Yonan, who personally owns around 50 million dinars, explains, "Iraq doesn't have to have peace in order to have prosperity."
