Dr. Nagham Mohsen, the head of the ministry's statistics department, said the order came from the ministry's director of planning, Dr. Nazar Shabandar, who told her it was on behalf of Abbas. She said the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which oversees the ministry, didn't like the idea of the count either.
Normally, I like to comment on news stories to which I link, but this one just shows to me how badly we are mismanaging the reconstruction
effort in Iraq. I have nothing more to say.