Omnibus Part 2: Bad news from Iraq?!

Special thanks to M for pointing this one out to me.

So I don't usually blog much about Iraq, for two simple reasons:
1) 90% of the news follows the same format: [Single digit] American casualties today, [double-triple digit] Iraqi casualties today, Bush says things are getting better, opposition quote.
2) By now I think most people get that the Iraq was was a terrible mistake which continues to be poorly run.

But this article really knocked my socks off. Turns out that the U.S. is doing more than fighting a guerrilla war: they are also trying to do some rebuilding. (Shocking as that is, it is not the big news here). Here's the problem though: anything that is associate with the US gets blown to smitherines. So what do do?

The Americans liked the idea and agreed to give Dr. Noori more than $300,000 to renovate an abandoned building and purchase new equipment and supplies, the U.S. officers say.

With the work well under way last fall, Dr. Noori asked Capt. Cederman to see the renovations for himself, both men say. But the Iraqi stressed the importance of keeping the U.S. role secret. "Can you come in without anyone seeing you come in?" Dr. Noori remembers asking.

That didn't seem possible. Another option: Hide in plain sight. "I thought, 'Why don't we just raid the place?"' Capt. Cederman recalls.

Apparently the tactic is equally extendable to those working directly for the U.S. army as well:

An Iraqi who worked as a translator for U.S. forces there was getting death threats from insurgents and asked the U.S. for help. The Americans responded by raiding his house, publicly arresting him, and holding him in jail for two days.

"A lot of people there now think he's a bad guy," Capt. Cederman says. "It bought him a lot of street cred."

Does anyone else think it is a problem that the U.S. has to convince Iraq that its own employees are "bad guys" in order to ensure their survival?

Oh Simulacrum. Why doest thou haunt me?