AUGUST 31, 2003: After three and a half years of attempting Mission Impossible – post-war reconstruction to build pluralist democracies in Kosovo, then Montenegro – my wife, Jan, and I are ready to take on the same task in Iraq. Although we disagree with the invasion and Australian participation, our years in the Balkans give us some reason to think we can get along in a derelict country full of guns. In January we were asked if we would be interested in a “special project” starting in March or April. It’s time to move on.