Diplomat Barbara Bodine was not, to put it mildly, the best choice for creating democracy in a land quite foreign to the idea.

Diplomats prize "stability" and abhor "change," so it should come as a universal blessing that she's been tossed out of the ring, not least because of the obviously timid American hand in Baghdad:

One top U.S. occupation official left her post Sunday, another was preparing to leave, and a new administrator arrived in the region, ready to take over, less than three weeks after their newborn reconstruction agency opened for business in the post-war chaos of Baghdad. The shakeup at the top comes as the agency makes inroads to restore law and order and government functions, but as many ordinary Iraqis complain about persistent insecurity and the slow pace of resuming basic services like power and water.

Now, recall that both Japanese and German reconstructions had their enormous setbacks and frustrations. But really, why bother with the Old Guard, who spent their lives assuming the task of Near East democratization was insurmountable?

An ORHA spokesman, U.S. Army Maj. John Cornelio, confirmed that Bodine was leaving Baghdad on Sunday. But the agency didn't explain the reason for her swift departure, just two weeks after she chaired a get-acquainted meeting with top bureaucrats of the former Baghdad city administration.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Bodine, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, was being reassigned as deputy director of the State Department's political-military division.

One gets the idea of a ever-so-slightly downwardly lateral transfer. Diplomats - and Arabist diplomats like Bodine, particularly - have little place directing massive societal paradigm shifts. Mediating, of course. Holding conferences, perhaps. But not guiding a country into the unknown.