Iraq catchall

A Reuters analysis piece makes the point that all the negotiations inside the protected green zone might well have no impact on those outside.

(Reuters)Most armies punish soldiers who desert, in some cases with courts martial. However, the Iraqi army, being rebuilt from scratch since the fall of Saddam, is struggling to attract recruits in the face of unrelenting insurgent attacks and allows soldiers to leave without punishment.

(The Australian)The question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build the biggest embassy on earth?

(Reuters) For three consecutive days, residents of the capital, Baghdad, have received less than one hour of electricity per day.

(WaPo) Yesterday, "Iraqi police also discovered 37 bodies in several Baghdad neighborhoods, all of them handcuffed, blindfolded and shot dead."

Juan Cole translates Dar al Hayat as saying that "the morning corpse patrol has become a regular part of Iraqi police work."

(Sorry, if this is messy, just trying to force a little quick blogging into my morning routine.)