A fairly alarming report in the NYT this morning detailing how the Iraqi government appears to have little interest in getting control of the rebuilding being undertaken there:

In one of the most recent cases, a $90 million project to overhaul two giant turbines at the Dora power plant in Baghdad failed after completion because employees at the plant did not know how to operate the turbines properly and the wrong fuel was used. The additional power is critically needed in Baghdad, where residents often have only a few hours of electricity a day. Because the Iraqi government will not formally accept projects like the refurbished turbines, the United States is "finding someone at the local level to handle the project, handing them the keys and saying, 'Operate and maintain it,' " another official in the inspector general’s office said.

It would be naive to have expected after more than four years that there would not be tensions between the civil authorities in Iraq and the American forces but this appears to be a plan to undermine success as much as anything. What to do with this information? There can't be any point in continuing to reconstruct only to watch projects fall apart soon after. That is nothing but building sand castles. But, like the person stuck in the manic needy relationship, you may be too aware of the alternatives.