Hillah, Iraq.

Five minutes to midnight. Five minutes until we roll out the gate to take down five high value targets: a former Ba’ath party colonel who is the supervisor of an insurgent training camp, three instructors, and the financier. Plus all the insurgents in training. And their IED making training area, with all its supplies This mission has the possibility to be sporty.Four minutes.

The car stereo changes track, and Billy Joel sings about his uptown girl. The lyrics contrast with the environment.Three minutes.

The radio subtly breaks squelch, and all Anglico and Green Berets are ordered back into the motor pool. The mission has been canceled.

The timing of the cancellation has particularly roweled me. Canceled with three minute to go. The preparation for a mission is a long process of managing your sleep and caffeine to be rested and alert until late hours. The donning of gear, and the loading of weapons. It takes almost as long to stand down from a mission. Weapons must be unloaded and secured, vehicles cleaned and closed. Bodies showered to remove the stink of well worn gear and sweat. And somehow all that caffeine has to get worked out of your system.We all congregated in the team room. The mission had been canceled for valid reasons. The ratification of the Iraqi constitution is a significant event, a watershed point of focus. Activities by all parties are increasing as the date draws near, and events designed solely to draw attention to one faction’s cause are becoming more pronounced and frequent.

Tonight marked the first overt demonstration by a anti-Coalition force: a public rally led by a local cleric who is a public favorite. This militia, headquartered in the south of Iraq and likely backed by foreign interests, has garnered enough sympathetic support in the local Iraqi Army battalion that the Army marched on the town, driving out all the police, a force largely aligned with the Coalition. The police, in turn, have taken up against this militia and their Iraqi Army backers. Our local police force wanted all SWAT elements to be available tonight should the local Army battalion march on Hillah. No SWAT means no mission, as we have to have an Iraqi presence on pretty much every mission. It is their country, after all.

All of this may seem unbelievable to those from established Western countries. Please keep in mind that in Iraq, all interests are local. There is no federal government, and the army units and police are constituted from the local population. The local police and army are often the law of the land, and certainly will be everywhere once the Coalition leaves. Imagine if the only law in your town were the sheriff, and perhaps the militia. Also factor in that religion is a significant portion of your daily life, and the local cleric holds tremendous sway over everyday life. Suddenly, the police fighting with the army seems plausible, much like the familiar strife between local, city, and state constabularies.

These increasingly frequent and demonstrative shows as the ratification looms will probably color most of our upcoming days.