From the Air Force Times, via USA Today:

...what the soldiers of Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, want more immediately is a gym. And cots that don’t sag so much they need cinder blocks for support. Or a system that drains away the human sewage that pools in the street outside their barracks. Or working phones.

... since the administrative handoff to the [Iraqi] Defense Ministry, the camp has faced a barrage of problems, [Lieutenant Colonel Bassim] al-Malki says. A $350,000 monthly stipend from the United States to manage the base has dried up, leaving a dearth of funds for repairs, he says. Windows blasted by mortar rounds are covered in cardboard and yet to be replaced. When no money surfaced to fix an electrical wiring problem in a section of the camp, the soldiers pooled their own money to hire an electrician, al-Malki says.

Requests to fix the camp’s sewage system have also been ignored, he says. Large pools of human sewage bubble in the street outside the barracks of the base security platoon, sending strong, rank smells through the building. Inside, soldiers sleep 12 to a room in beds leftover from the Saddam Hussein era. Concrete cinder blocks are propped under some beds to keep the middles from sagging.

...So far, no one from the Defense Ministry has showed up, he says.

“They don’t understand our operation at all,” says [Sergeant Major Hassan] Kadum, who walks over to the U.S. barracks each night to check his e-mail. “They are kings playing chess with us.”...

[ Hitchens ] Don't blame Bush! Don't blame the new Iraqi government! Blame liberals! They should hold more charity car washes! [ / Hitchens ]