http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-goslow27jul27,1, 7069048.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Inefficiency Compounded by Idleness in Iraq
Factory workers sit around. Garbage collectors don't pick up the trash. The lack of initiative slows recovery and deepens discontent
By John Daniszewski, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD -- It is 1 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon at the gates to the State Enterprise for Electrical Industries, and the workers have gone home. What about the managers? Out. Is even one technician left inside? The guards shake their heads: of course not.
Granted, it's 110 degrees outside, and the weekend - Friday and Saturday in Iraq - is just around the corner. But knocking off work early is routine in postwar Baghdad. At the sprawling plant, the day begins at 9 a.m., and the workers who do show up are out the door by noon.
And granted, some things are beyond the workers' control - the lack of functioning infrastructure for electricity, water pressure, telecommunications and finance. But the lackadaisical attitude also seems to be a byproduct of the national mood - shock and depression - since the country's centralized system was upended by the Americans' advance.
Whether intentional or incidental, the work slowdown has hampered efforts of occupation authorities to begin rebuilding Iraq.
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