JUST IN CASE YOU WONDER, NO, the US Army does NOT train for this.

The soldier from the U.S. Army's First Armored Division climbs on a chair clutching a machine gun and shouts at the dozens of people waiting by the barbed wire barring access to the headquarters of the Iraqi Central Bank.

``Get out of here, the bank is closed,'' he yells.

The people in the crowd were seeking to exchange their 10,000 dinar ($7.70) notes for bills in smaller denominations. Since the war ended April 10, traders and shopowners are charging a 25 percent fee on 10,000 dinar bills, the largest notes in circulation, after word spread that some may be counterfeit.

It was another of the many challenges U.S. occupation authorities and Iraqi central-bank officials face in restoring and managing Iraq's monetary system. With most banks closed, the banking system is crippled. There is no official exchange rate. The value of the dinar sometimes fluctuates as much as 50 percent in a week on unofficial exchange markets.

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