Friend in Baghdad

A friend of mine is working in Baghdad at the moment and recently sent me an update. Parts of the email are anonymous, so I'm taking the liberty of posting some of his remarks. Besides his dry wit, he has some cutting analysis of life on the ground.

Baghdad gets better every day. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. If people knew what it was like in the IZ, they'd pay to come here. Instead, people somehow intuit what they think the life of those people administrating a war and reconstruction should be like, and assume it is like that. Instead, Jesus, the Embassy is like MTV Spring Break Baghdad. Bunker mentality like all hell. The civil servants are on rotations of six months or less, and most of them never step outside of the wire. It's just impossible to work that way.

The synopsis is this: Legions of dedicated, passionate, sincere, intelligent people are frustrated to their wits' end by an utter absence of leadership from the top echelons of government. They're frustrated by the ineptitude displayed in planning from day one, frustrated by the bunker mentality, and frustrated by the abysmal misapplication of resources. (That pool is never out of service. Never.)