So close to going on leave that I could taste it, but I decided to go for one last tear through Numaniyah, Kut and the Iran border lands with a Washington Post reporter, who the general was a little uneasy about hosting.

This area is a repository for the Coalition of the Willing, a reasonably safe place where nations angling for foreign aid or NATO membership or military training can send a few soldiers without the political liability of mass casualties.

The local police bring some Kazakh engineers captured mortars for destruction. The Kazakhs are set up to purify water as well, but there is no water.

A full third of Georgia’s army mans a few lonely traffic checkpoints in the desert, but little seems to be checked at these points.

Troops from El Salvador amble about dark Shiite militia strongholds, distributing “I love Iraq” T-shirts and soccer balls.

Twelve Romanians fly unmanned spy planes over a city that no one patrols. They demand to know what Americans think of Romania. Vampires? They explain that Count Dracula was a real count, but not really a vampire. Well, there goes everything I thought I knew about Romania.

At the border, a bureaucratic nightmare awaits anyone traveling between Iraq and Iran, unless the person is driving a loaded tractor trailer. Those lucky souls are waved on through.

“The best way to deal with bureaucrats is with stealth, and sudden violence,” Boutros Boutros Ghali supposedly said.

I took some pictures while I was out, but mostly I was busy trying to make up for the appalling lack of physical security the missions had.

Granted, Wasit Province is not violent like Baghdad, and there is very little one can do to stop a determined suicide car bomber or a talented sniper. But there are things you can do to give yourself a chance. These are razor-thin margins of safety that soldiers familiar with Baghdad obsess over.

I certainly hope the fringes of the coalition don’t have to learn the hard way, but as troop activity and militia activity rise in the east, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t.

your correspondent in Baghdad,

Ben