As America approached the third anniversary of its involvement in Iraq, I had gone to Baghdad to observe not the war itself, but how it is being covered by the press. But of course, the war is inescapable. It has no battle lines, no fronts, not even the rural– urban divide that has usually characterized guerrilla wars. Instead, the conflict is everywhere and nowhere.

There is undeniably a Blade Runner–like feel to this city. The violence is so pervasive and unfathomable that you wonder what people think they are dying for.

"We no longer know what is going on, but we are pretending we do."

"It's a little like being in third grade, where everybody has to be home before dark," someone says. Everyone laughs.

That Western journalists now find being embedded a kind of liberation from imprisonment in their bureaus is something of an irony.

The Green Zone now looks something like one of the United Arab Emirates, where Asian contract workers often far outnumber actual citizens.

While official language is relentlessly upbeat, the already nightmarish reality has been getting worse with each passing day.

You might also want to read Jeffrey Gettelman's report from Baghdad.