October 03, 2003
New Iraqi Dinars are being flown into the country and guarded by troops from Fiji:
CARGO flights are ferrying Iraq's new currency into this northern airbase daily in preparation for its launch later this month, a senior US military officer said today.
Additional information on how the dinars will be phased in is here:
He said the new dinar banknotes were being guarded by a contingent of Fijians in a remote corner of Camp Qayyarah, 350 kilometres north of Baghdad, which was once used by ousted president Saddam Hussein's airforce.
"That's affirmative, the currency is being delivered here and looked after by the Fijians but it's a separate operation and has nothing to do with us," the officer, from the 101st Airborne Division, told AFP.
The old dinar, with Saddam's smiling face etched upon it, is destined for the dustbins of history within the next two weeks.
On 15 October, new Iraqi dinar banknotes will be available. They will replace the existing Iraqi "print" dinars at parity. After 15 October there will be three months to swap the existing notes for new ones.
Of course, if a person was interested in a "Saddam dinar", the are still available...at least on Ebay.
