EXCELLENT PIECE AS USUAL FROM THE WASHINGTON POST.

A former US Ambassador gives a first hand glimpse at the challenges of rebuilding post-war Iraq.

It was hard to get Iraq's paralyzed economy moving again, so we decided to throw money at it -- literally. In late May, a capable U.S. Treasury team worked out an emergency payment scheme for government workers -- and I became one of the deliverymen. Without a functioning banking system, cash was the only way to inject money into the economy. We packed wads of money into metal trunks -- just under $1 million in small bills for the $20-per-head payments -- and loaded them into the back of my Suburban. A humvee traveled in front and an armored scout car in the rear.

The next step was to pay April salaries. The Treasury team worked with Iraq's finance ministry and central bank. On May 24, military police in armored convoys moved billions of Iraqi dinars and money needed for $30-per-head emergency payments for government workers through Ministry of Industry and Minerals offices and into key state enterprises, which in turn funneled them to smaller enterprises. Security glitches abounded. Some worried Iraqis described moving big cash boxes without a gun in sight. Reopening banks will be essential to do this right in the future.

Read the whole thing here. You'll be glad you did.