Confusion

How divided is Iraq? For about 24 hours yesterday, the country was split into two time zones.

Iraq observes daylight savings time and had been planning to make the switch on Saturday, following the Friday day of prayer. So on Saturday morning, the U.S. military set its clocks ahead one hour.

But no one else seemed to follow. The clocks on state-owned TV stayed the same, so in our hotel, we remained on standard time and had our morning meeting at 9 a.m. as usual. Then word got out that the U.S. had switched. The Iraqi interior ministry called a press conference at noon and the U.S. military scheduled a related event at 3 p.m. These events were occurring just miles apart, but they were in different time zones, leaving reporters scrambling.

The Associated Press today tried to clear up the mess:

The confusion apparently stemmed from too much advance planning. The Iraqi government issued a statement two weeks ago saying that Daylight Savings Time would begin on March 31 ''by going forward one hour so that 12:00 p.m. Friday becomes 1:00 a.m. Saturday.''

The American military set its clocks forward, but the Iraqi Cabinet apparently changed its mind.... The Cabinet office confirmed the time change would occur on Sunday and declined to comment on the previous statement.

This morning Iraq was to make the switch. But at 9 a.m. (the "new" 9 a.m.) none of our staff
had reached the office. They trickled in by 10 a.m., and we finally decided to synchronize watches. Finally, I'd adjusted the time on my computer yesterday, but today Windows outsmarted me and adjusted it again, so that I was two hours ahead of where I was 24 hours before. Sigh. I'm going back to bed.