By Andrew L. Jaffee

What hope is there still for Iraq? G#d only knows. But I found a little bit of solace — at least some fascination — in an article by Lt. Col. Carl D. Grunow for Military Review, writing about the Iraqi military’s pluses and minuses. From CNN.com:

Grunow praised the Iraqi skill in dealing with a tough environment. He said that “economic sanctions and austerity have made the Iraqis outstanding improvisers” and they “display great ingenuity with maintenance operations.”

One trait of Iraqis is that they are “fatalistic, surrendering their future to the will of Allah. This explains how they can continue to function despite daily car bombings, atrocities and murders that have touched nearly every family.”

He wrote the “most frustrating aspect” of this viewpoint is that “it translates into a lack of diligence and detailed planning.”

“To their credit, the Iraqis almost always made mission, but it was typically not to the standard that Americans expect.”