At Dar Es Salaam's ATM in Iraq, you can...

Deposit Cash/Cheque/Bank Correspondence, Conduct transfers within your own accounts, Make Third Party Payments within Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank Iraq, Withdraw up to IQD 1,500,000 per day, Obtain a mini-statement, Request a cheque book...

At least this is what was listed on the bank of the slip that came out of the ATM... YES, the ATM! This may seem a silly thing to post, but to say that a place like Japan is a CASH SOCIETY is to have no comprehension of what things are like in Kurdistan! Should you be have been stuck in Kurdistan with no cash anytime last year, you would likely have to rely on the kindness of strangers to help you across the border to Turkey to a bank machine or a reliable place to receive a Western Union transfer. (Austrian Air, which wasn't in operation for part of last year, of course does accept payment in credit, but this was the exception rather than the norm).

Now the options for the terminally broke are growing! On April 5th, I successfully withdrew IQD 300,000 (the maximum amount for withdrawal at one time) from the Dar Es Salaam bank machine located between Iskan street and New City Shopping Center in Erbil! The second attempt at withdrawal failed (and I was unable to test the statement on the back of the slip that you can withdraw up to IQD 1,500,000 dinar in one day). And if you live in Kurdistan and this is good news to you, I can give you the further information that HSBC in London charged me GBP 1.89 for this service and exchanged the money at a rate which I would estimate to be Interbank rate + 5%.