JOHN F. BURNS sends a report from Iraq that echoes the cautiously positive tone of a number of emails that I’ve gotten from people lately.

Meanwhile, my secretary, whose deployment is coming to an end, sends a report. Click “read more” to read it.

Here it is:

Have spent the last week or so at the Baghdad International Airport. We are here “decompressing” as we begin our journey back to the states. We will spend a little more time here before heading to Kuwait and on back to Camp Lejeune. We have not been given very specific dates or times and when dealing with the DoD, it is not wise to bet on departure until one has a plane in front of them and is told to board.

Arriving at the base here felt something like falling through the looking glass. After months of living on dirt floors in buildings from which we had just recently “evicted” the previous tenants; the first day at BIAP had us eating Burger King and attending a USO show headlined by Colin Quinn. The chow halls (KBR run) are open for four meals a day. One of them has a jazz band occasionally. One of the more disturbing amenities is a photo lab at which you can have your picture photoshopped into a photo of a combat patrol. I guess this should not surprise me, but it makes me wonder; do cowboys get angry at people getting those pictures made in Gatlinburg? Everyone has their fish stories I suppose.

It looks like Iraq is drying out and heating up, a good time to be heading home. It will be nice to go to a ballgame and have a beer. Right now it just amazes me how tired we are from the collective lack of sleep, bad diet, constant walking, and stress. We spend most of the time sleeping. But sleeping more soundly than we have in months.

Good.