SOME RANDOM OBSERVATIONS FROM IRAQ, courtesy of J.D. Johannes. Lots of good stuff, but note this:

The bureacracy–even in combat–is staggering. To get some things done the request has to go through 15! steps of approval.

One Company Commander summed it up like this:

“They trust me with the lives of 100 men, humvees, weapons, ammo, civil affairs negotiations, classified intelligence, radios, everything. But I cannot be trusted with $20k worth of Dinar to hire a crew to build up an IP station?”

Which is interesting, because I keep hearing that the appeal of JAM and AQIZ is the money.

I saw one sheet listing the rewards for tips. But the rewards were lower than what JAM and AQIZ pay.

Is the coalition losing a bidding war?

Read the whole thing. Remember my earlier blogging about the CERP program and how the bureaucrats were blowing it?