INVERTED PYRAMID

You have to read to the 25th paragraph of this New York Times story to get the point. Here are paragraphs 1 and 2:

Senior American commanders in Iraq are publicly complaining that delays in delivering radios, body armor and other equipment have hobbled their ability to build an effective Iraqi security force that can ultimately replace United States troops here.

The lag in supplying the equipment, because of a contract dispute, may even have contributed to a loss of lives among Iraqi recruits, commanders say. A spokesman for the company that was awarded the original contract said much of the equipment had already been produced and was waiting to be shipped to Iraq.

Paragraph 10 explains that

The first batch of equipment for the Iraqis has been paid for and was to have been delivered under a $327 million contract to a small company, Nour USA Ltd., of Vienna, Va. But the Pentagon canceled that deal this month after protests by several competing companies led to a determination that Army procurement officers in Iraq botched the contract.

Now, here's the first sentence of paragraph 25:

Nour USA's president, A. Huda Farouki, is a friend of Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council who has close ties to several senior Pentagon officials.

Oops -- sorry, almost forgot to mention that. But hey -- it's really OK!

But Nour executives and senior Army officials say that relationship played no role in awarding the contract to Nour.

Do they really think anyone on the planet is going to read that sentence without bursting out laughing?