Ceremonial

Well, it’s official. Almost. I believe I may have mentioned my involvement with an inter-agency organization dedicated to building governance capacity with the Baghdad provincial government. It's called a Provincial Reconstruction Team; similar to a concept used in Afghanistan. It's State Department, USAID, USACE (Corps of Engineers), and Army civil affairs. I was involved in the predecessor organization, Provincial Support Team; the big difference is that that was more like a committee and PRT is an actual organization. Or attempting to be. Haggling has been going on for some time between State and Defense. And that means literally; word is that details about our team have been debated between Rice and Rumsfeld. But yesterday we had our big inaugural event; Ambassador Khalilzad gave us a kick-off speech and toured our office. We also had a multitude of Baghdad luminaries in attendance; the Governor, Provincial Council Chairman, PC members, District Council members and a couple Deputy Mayors. (The Mayor has been out of town; there are rumors that there might be a vacancy in that office again shortly – more on that later.) The Governor’s antics don’t take me by surprise any more, but I could tell some were put off. We had a short administrative announcement at the beginning of the ceremony giving instructions in case of a mortar attack (you know, standard stuff…and turn off your cell phones, too…) and the Governor was heard to mention something to the effect that ‘I am the Governor of this province… I will tell people if they need to take shelter or not!... He is former (or not-so-former) Badr Corps commander and is very open about telling people who will listen about his ‘actions against the former regime’. He fidgets during meetings. And answers his cell phone, and talks- loudly during official events. I did the rounds with him, introducing him to State Department and USAID officials. He caught several off guard. He’s not what you would call ‘diplomatic.’ “Who are you? Why have I not seen you before? How much money are you spending in Baghdad?” This was his opening line to the Mission Director of the entire USAID mission here in Iraq. On the other hand, Provincial Council Chairman Mueen performed superbly, following Khalilzad’s speech with a very well written piece describing the challenges facing his government, and a candid assessment of the Coalition’s efforts to assist. The speeches were followed by lunch, and a round of photos with the Ambassador. All that was missing was a bottle of champaign smashed on something, but it felt official enough. However, we’re still waiting on some documents to be signed in Washington.