Sandy Ingram
Parallel or black market forex still exists in Iraq...where the US dollar is traded slightly higher rate than the official one.
The US and Iraq are working to close this gap by putting anti-smuggling controls in place and digitizing transactions.
You cannot exchange foreign currency without your passport [at an international airport]. The amount determines reporting requirements.
The limit is $10,000 per transaction per day. Therefore to exchange $100,000 you would need to exchange currency for approximately 10 days. The same hold true when activating transaction over $10,000 at your local bank.
Many time small foreign currency exchange services will report the transaction [to the IRS] even if it's under $10,000...