phone sex

An article appeared in Sunday's Washington Post by Timothy Carney. Carney just spent 90 days working in Iraq assisting with reconstruction efforts. It's an American insider's view of the realities on the ground in Iraq.

But that's not what caught our eye.

Security, communications and transport problems -- as well as a "failure to marry the civilian and military staffs," as one colleague charitably put it -- plague the mission to this day . Three culprits contributed to our woes: The first was the military communications staff where, with one or two notable exceptions, the lack of vision was exceeded only by the lack of competence. The second, outside contractor Raytheon, provided a weak communications network; Internet and printer capabilities were down again from June 14 to 16. The third, cell-phone contractor MCI, did not produce a functioning telephone during the entire six weeks of Garner's tenure, crippling our mission. A few phones finally appeared on June 3. These failures merit investigation.

According to an AP article published on May 22, MCI/WorldCom reportedly signed the contract for cellular service in Iraq at the beginning of May. But today's Washington Post notes that cellular service was already being provided during Jay Garner's tenure. If MCI/WorldCom was responsible for cellular service during the 6 weeks of Garner's tenure, then the cellular contract was actually awarded in April.

Why is this significant? According to an article in the June 9th issue of the Mercury News, Australia's Telstra and AT&T had sent executives to Baghdad in May to pursue the cellular contract. A lucrative contract that now looks to have already been awarded.

Time Line

Jay Garner arrives in Baghdad on April 21, 2003

Timothy Carney arrives in Baghdad the night of April 24.

President Bush announces on May 6 that Paul Bremer will soon be replacing Garner.

Bremer arrives in Baghdad on May 12.

AT&T/Telstra visit Baghdad on approximately May 19.

Report of MCI/WorldCom contract on May 22.

Garner leaves Baghdad on May 31 - 6 weeks after arriving.

Simple math says the MCI/WorldCom contract had already been awarded by April 21. AT&T/Telstra looks to have never had a chance. (The original bpost on MCI/WorldCom here)

And Raytheon? Who knew they were also providing network and internet service in Iraq in addition to their defense communications technology. Must be another one of those task orders we hear so little about.