MSU President M. Peter McPherson came back from Iraq in late September, but his task in helping to rebuild the war-torn economy wasn't completed until last week.

On Jan. 15, the last piece of currency left from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime was taken out of circulation. It was replaced with a new Iraqi dinar without the dictator's portrait.

"The currency is one of the building blocks of Iraq," McPherson said. "It is the foundation of a sound fiscal and monetary policy in Iraq."

McPherson was granted a leave of absence in April to serve as the financial coordinator for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq. He returned to his role as president on Oct. 1.

About $3 billion worth of the new currency - brought to 245 sites in Iraq by 27 planes - is just the start to rebuilding the country, McPherson said.

"On July 7, the decision was made to make a new currency in Iraq and this decision was urged to us by many Iraqis because the old currency simply wasn't functioning well," he said, adding that the old Saddam-adorned dinar is now worthless.

"If you haven't converted your currency right now, all you have is a souvenir," he said.

MSU economics professor Carl Liedholm said the United States had several different options when rebuilding Iraq's economy.

"You have to figure out what mechanism works," he said. "They decided on a floating exchange rate."

Even though the project is complete, there could be some wrinkles to iron out, Liedholm said.

"If you don't have that system set up right, you could have flights of money," he said. "This hopefully won't occur, because hopefully a sound fiscal and monetary policy will be implemented."

But Rosina Hassoun, an anthropology adjunct assistant professor at MSU, said there were better options than creating a new currency in Iraq.

"It probably would've been better to use American currency as a transition and let them set up their own currency," she said. "I question that whole concept of someone else - another country - setting up currency."

And the new monetary system in Iraq could have a negative effect on Iraq, where anti-American feelings are common, Hassoun said.

"It's a region that has such instability," she said. "It's like a house of cards - can we hold Iraq together is a good question.

"It could all collapse."

The new system could be a metaphor for a larger intent, she said.

"Money is the symbol of economic power and might," she said. "There's a deeper symbolism about setting up a currency system for a country."