Iraqis stash cash to avoid troubled banking system

Baghdad, Iraq -- As Iraq's evolving banking system turns more dangerous and more corrupt, people in this cash-driven economy increasingly are stashing piles of money in their homes.

For those who still use the troubled system, a trip to the bank often means extraordinary measures to avoid criminal gangs and crooked clerks fishing for bribes. Lesser inconveniences can include caps on wire transfers, weeklong waits for checks to clear, limited supplies of high-value notes and hours of lines.

. . .


"You must keep it somewhere," said Abd Ali Radi, the 56-year-old owner of a modest bus company. "This is a problem for all Iraqis today." Radi relayed a story about a recent trip to his bank. He said he was nervously edging ahead in line toward the teller windows when he heard the familiar sound of ammunition being inserted into an automatic pistol.

He said he fled.

Ali al-Ajeely, a 48-year-old travel agency owner, said he is so fearful of carrying large amounts of cash that he avoids the city's depositories altogether.

"It's safer to stay away from the banks," al-Ajeely said.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/117240669048430.xml&coll=2

De-stabilize Iraq so that the whole Mideast can be captured and bled dry of oil... wasn't that the plan?

house-to-house search mission. Whole lot of thievery going on!