Milestones for Iraq
The government of Iraq understands that dramatic steps are necessary to avert a downward spiral and make progress. Prime Minister Maliki has worked closely in consultation with the United States and has put forward the following milestones in the key areas of national reconciliation, security and governance:...

GOVERNANCE
By the end of 2006:
The Central Bank of Iraq will raise interest rates to 20 percent and appreciate the Iraqi dinar by 10 percent to combat accelerating inflation. Iraq will continue increasing domestic prices for refined petroleum products and sell imported fuel at market prices.

RECOMMENDATION 24: The contemplated completion dates of the end of 2006 or early 2007 for some milestones may not be realistic. These should be completed by the first quarter of 2007.

Now, if they can only develop a market where we can buy and sell dinar currency without huge dealer markups...

But finding truly independent and clear advice from acknowledged personal finance experts is more difficult. Only a few of the best-known personal finance gurus have ventured to express clear opinions on this topic, but the few who have are decidedly negative on the idea:

Opinion	Expert	Source	Date	Excerpt	Link
	Matt Krantz	USA Today	January 10, 2011	"Investing in the Iraqi dinar is a huge gamble, and one in which you should be prepared to lose all your money."	Investing in Iraqi dinar: Source of quick riches or too risky?
	Dave Ramsey	daveramsey.com	July 6, 2010	"This is the dumbest thing to come along in years. It’s borderline on a scam! A lot of military folks have fallen for this, and there are ads all over the internet for the stuff."	Currency "Investing" Is Ludicrous
	John Jagerson	Mint.com	April 6, 2010	"The bottom line: This is an investment opportunity marketed by unregistered advisors to mostly unsophisticated currency investors. No risks are disclosed and past information is fabricated or modified to make the opportunity look better than it really is. This investment is a gamble at best."	New Investment Scam: Buying the Iraqi Dinar
	Jim Cramer	TheStreet.com	October 20,2009	"I'm always a fan of buying the currency as a play," he said, and requests are rolling in to "Mad Money" for a way to own the dinar.	Cramer's Dinar Comments
	Jennifer Openshaw	MarketWatch	Oct. 29, 2009	"What did the Web site recommend? "It said she should invest in Iraqi dinars," my friend said, still amazed at the concept. The handyman recommended this 77-year-old grandmother of seven invest her retirement money in the currency of a nation whose financial condition is so volatile it didn't even make it on to the World Economic Forum's 2009 list of the most economically unstable nations on the planet (Chad, Zimbabwe, and Burundi are the three worst). Kind of takes your breath away."	Link to Jennifer Openshaw Article
	John Jagerson	NASDAQ/Learning MArkets	April 2009	"The bottom line is that this (Iraqi Dinars) is an investment opportunity marketed by unregistered advisors to mostly unsophisticated currency investors. No risks are disclosed and past information is fabricated or modified to make the opportunity look better than it really is. This investment is a gamble at best."	Link to John Jagerson Article
	Michelle Singletary	Washington Post	January 27, 2008	"Take, for example, the Iraqi dinar scam. In this con, promoters promise double-digit returns to investors. The promoters tell people that democracy in Iraq and the ensuing peace will stimulate the economy and drive up the value of the post-Saddam Hussein dinar. The Better Business Bureau has seen a substantial increase in complaints from around the world about the dinar scam, with many of them coming from military personnel and civilian contractors. The BBB said people complained that they paid for the currency but never received the money."	Link to Michelle Singletary Article
	Kimberly Lankford	Kiplinger.com	March 2007	I have a friend who, along with his buddies, is investing in Iraqi dinars through USACurrencyExchange.com. Please help me enlighten them about what they're getting into. -- Mike Klinedinst, Crossville, Tenn. Tell your buddy to forget his dreams of making a killing in dinars. Since the new Iraqi dinar appeared in 2003 to replace the old currency carrying Saddam Hussein's image, scores of Web sites have begun peddling these so-called investment opportunities. But would-be investors are speculating on a volatile currency in one of the world's most unstable places. Penny stocks are risky enough, but the dinar is not even a penny currency. In mid January, it took 1,313 dinars to equal $1. The offer on USACurrencyExchange.com gets you 250,000 dinars for $238, implying the site is taking a 25% markup. What's more, the currency isn't freely traded. U.S. banks won't buy dinars, nor will the dealers who sell them. In fact, the only way to unload dinars that we know of is on eBay, which recently listed about 500 auctions of new Iraqi dinars.	Link to Kimberly Lankford Article
	Jeffrey Frankel	Boston Magazine	October 2006	"(He) calls the activity 'pretend currency trading.' “I’ve received a large number of e-mails from people saying, ‘I understand you’re an expert on Iraq. Do you have any views? Can you advise me?’” he says. “I get the feeling that all these people doing this shouldn’t be. They’re little people, they don’t know what they’re doing, and they’re going to lose a lot of money.”	A Fistful of Dinars
	Walter Updegrave	Money Magazine/CNNMoney.com	January 2006	"In my mind, at least, nothing has changed since I first warned people about investing in the Iraqi dinar in a previous column -- except, perhaps, that individuals still seem willing to buy this currency despite any credible evidence that people who buy it as an investment have earned any sort of return. So my position today is the same as it was before: putting anything more than a few token bucks in dinars as an investment is a lousy idea. Indeed, I don't think you can call it investing at all, since investing implies having some knowledge of the actual value of what you're buying and some reasonable way of calculating an expected return."	Link to Walter Udegrave Article
	Walter Updegrave	Money Magazine/CNNMoney.com	August 2004	"My take is unequivocal. Given the difficulty of predicting currency movements, I'm not even a big proponent of investing in established currencies like the euro or the yen....And when it comes to buying and selling the fledgling currency of a fledgling government in one of the most chaotic parts of the world, that goes beyond mere speculation. I'd call it gambling. "	Link to Walter Updegrave ArticleLink to Walter Udegrave Article
	Bruce Williams	Smart Money	August 2006	"Currency speculation can be a very rewarding enterprise-but it is fraught with peril. The Iraqi dinar is extraordinarily speculative and has nothing behind it. While it can be observed that Iraq has lots of oil, with the huge amount of turmoil that is currently embroiling that nation and so many amateurs, military personnel and some civilians working there and getting involved in this, it is one of the last currencies I would speculate in just now. "	Link to Bruce Williams Article
	Sandra Block	USA Today		"PARKERSBURG, WV: WHAT IS ALL THE HYPE ABOUT BUYING THE IRAQI-DINAR? DO YOU FORSEE A SUBSTANSIAL INCREASE OF THIS CURRENCY IN THE FUTURE. DO YOU BELIEVE IT TO BE A GOOD INVESTMENT? THANKS, BOB Sandra Block: Somehow I missed that hype, but maybe it's because I go to bed early and miss the late-night infomercials. Right now, it takes 1,471 dinars to equal $1. Dinars are suitable for framing, though."	Link to Sandra Block Article

If you are aware of other experts expressed opinions, please leave a comment and we'll include them.

A number of people have begun touting so-called "investment" opportunities in the Iraq Dinar as a "sure way" to make a lot of money with little or no risk. Many of our clients have asked our opinion on the legitimacy of this.

Is [tag]"investing" in the Iraq Dinar [/tag]a sure way to profit? We don't think so. In our opinion, buying the Iraq Dinar is a high risk investment with a poor outlook.

If you're [tag]considering buying Iraqi dinar[/tag], you should take a look at the information they've brought together on this page.

MY DUMBEST INVESTMENT

Last year, I spent about $1,500 for approximately 1.7 million [tag]Iraqi dinars[/tag]. At the moment, one U.S. dollar is worth approximately 1,450 Iraqi [tag]dinars[/tag], making my investment worth around $1,170. Even a modest increase in the value of the dinar would result in significant gains. Time will tell if this investment is Foolish or just plain foolish. B.E., Killeen, Texas

The Fool Responds: Speculating in currencies � even those of major, stable nations has burned many investors. [tag]Iraq[/tag] is an especially unstable place right now. Inflation is just one of many risks facing the currency. Don�t look to the dinar's past performance, which is largely irrelevant now. Focus instead on the country�s future prospects. Or better still, consider investing in the U.S. stock market. Many of our companies offer international exposure through their global operations.

What I find interesting is that neither the reader nor the MF reponse are unequivocally negative on the Iraqi dinar.