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CNN. Broadcasting A Long Stryker Post ! 5-7-14 Stryker: Stryker Blog 5.7.2014. The Year of Changes in Iraq Including the Iraqi Dinar. It is amazing that Iraq has stood up to the many distractions that has come its way this year. From the breakup of the Shia party which marginalized Maliki’s ability to pass the 2014 Fiscal Year Budget by majority, to a successful election month which saw the completion of the third parliamentary elections since the Iraqi constitution was written in 2005, but causing at the same time the highest death tolls witnessed on record since 2006. All these and more Iraq has stayed solid and strong. The Iraqis continue to want more out of their leaders and this was proven when 60% of the registered voters went to the polls on April 30th despite al-Qaeda violence and an impressive 70% showed up to vote for change in the worst terrorist active Anbar province. ~~~ Out of all of Iraq only one polling station was closed in the town of Fallujah, once again showing that the citizens demand change. The old saying, “the fish rots from the head down” descripts in my opinion Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to a tee and why Iraq is number 7 out of the top 23 most corrupt countries in the world. Millions of dollars under Maliki’s administration continue to be stolen from state coffers every year. To gain a job in Maliki’s army or government meant that an Iraqi would have to pay a bribe. Each Civil Servant on average makes 4 bribes per year and if that bribe was too high, he or she could end up in jail or loss their job. 50% of Iraqi’s questioned this year in a study held by the U.N. Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) said that corruption is on the rise. The common denominator of all the crisis in the country of Iraq over the years has always come down to this modern day dictator called Nouri al-Maliki. If you refused to go along with Maliki’s ways he just had is corrupt Baathian party judge Medhat al-Mahmoud write an arrest warrant as he did to oust Dr. Shabibi from his office as governor of the Central Bank of Iraq in 2012. He holds more government titles than any other leader in the world and on top of that he gets paid $3 million dollars a year to do so, making him the highest paid Prime Minister on the globe. He will do whatever it takes to stay in power because another law that he has stopped dead in its tracks gives him immunity to crimes against humanity and corruption as long as he holds a political position. Despite all the corruption, lies, broken promises and deceit made by Maliki and others, Iraq seems to be resilient and full of change. With a new government on the horizon and an imminent change in leadership in the forecast we see people like Abdul Basset Turki, acting governor of the Central Bank of Iraq speaking out. He has stated that the time is acceptable and all measures will be in place by the middle of the year to reform the Iraqi dinar. He said there will be no hesitation in raising the zeros from the local currency once the political and economic conditions are right. Enhancement of the value of the Iraqi dinar externally has taken place over the last 11 years said Turki but my research in connected all the dots looks like a significant change is coming to Iraq that will mean that all records will need to be adjusted. From Mr. Turki himself, “the implementation of such a project needs to arrange all the accounts and records” quote unquote. The project that he refers to is raising the zeros from the local currency. So far these external increases in the exchange rate of the dinar hasn’t needed any changes in accounting and records but a major change will required such actions. Furthermore, if it was just a case of dropping the three zeros or lopping the zeros as some refer to it, the accounting and records would easily be adjusted. All you would need to do is drop three zeros, move the decimal point over but revaluation of the exchange rate by raising the zeros would cause of major adjustments in the accounting and records. Additional points to back my statements, by the Central Bank announcing that they have improved the current series of banknotes and will be putting into circulation the newly designed 250, 500 and 1,000 dinar notes tells me that they do not plan on redenominating the Iraqi dinar, they plan is raising the value by removing the zeros from the exchange rate. Here is another quote of Mr. Turki; "The central bank will proceed without hesitation to apply the project raise zeros from the local currency in case settled political and economic situation of the country." Why would they print all these new banknotes with zeros if the plan was just to delete the zeros from them? See what I mean, Turki is not talking about deleting the zeros off the currency, he is talking about raising the value by raising the zeros off the exchange rate! The plan has always been IMO to drop the three zeros of the exchange rate and why many Iraqi’s believe that their currency will be equal to the USD and then one day, with patients they believe it will be worth what it was in the 80’s. A revaluation of the Iraqi dinar with a new look of enhancements to the current series of banknotes is exactly what the Turki is telling the Iraqi citizens and not redenominating their wealthy currency. If what we are reading comes to light Maliki’s last day as Prime Minster of Iraq will be June 14th and it sure looks like Hakim’s Citizens Coalition, Allwai’s National Alliance, Unity Party, the Kurdistan Alliance and a few more are meeting to go over the formation of the new government and nothing includes al-Maliki. All road maps seem to be leading to economic reform and a major change in the monetary structure of the Iraqi dinar but keep in mind that it is Iraq we are dealing with and anything can happen to change this course. Where I believe there is a well-defined plan in place, some great leaders to see it through and some solid coalitions in agreement to get them there I urge everyone to be casually optimistic but if what I point out here day comes to true we will be having an early July RVQ. Chin up and stay grounded but I believe we/they are about here my friends.