The bombings have been relentless – by the end of the week, more than 150 were dead and hundreds more wounded as insurgents moved explosive-laden cars through the city at will. Two were detonated simultaneously in the city's north, killing 14 hapless civilians; at Talibiyah, in the eastern suburbs, a suicide bomber crashed into a police checkpoint, killing seven policemen and five civilians.

The bombers claimed a prized scalp on Tuesday when a Shiite MP was killed – and even though the official mourning was confined to the Green Zone, Baghdadis were furious not so much at his passing as having to cope with the capital in gridlock for most of the afternoon because of the attendant security measures.

This is the second Australian ministerial visit in a matter of weeks – October, Ms Bishop; September, Defence Minister David Johnson. And for sure, if Tony Abbott will go all the way to the Netherlands to sign a condolence book, then he'll be itching to make the chopper ride from Baghdad International Airport to the GZ.

But they don't travel alone – every ministerial visit comprises its "delegation" and its personal security detail.  Sadly for Iraqis, the Obama-led coalition on Syria and Iraq has lumbered them with another burden: endless delegations of foreign officials who need to be seen to be doing something.

With as many as 60 countries signing on, and as many as three senior members of government needing to drop by, that means as many as 180 delegations before any of them decides to make a second swing through.

But none of them will have any contact with real Iraqis, like the mothers who can't send their children to school because all schools have been converted to refugee centres to house the tens of thousands fleeing the war, or who can't rely on the grid to provide electricity when they need it.

Sure, the visitors will view the Baghdad sprawl as they are ferried in from the airport, but the only Iraqis they will meet will be that special breed that lurks in the Green Zone – those who are so well practised in the art of telling visiting dignitaries exactly what they want to hear – and would they mind, please, placing the cheque on the table as they leave.

It is worth considering what was transacted when Ms Bishop met her Iraqi counterpart – Ibrahim al-Jaafari said that Iraq didn't want foreign ground forces and Ms Bishop said that Australia would not send any.

It was a long way for the Foreign Minister to come to say that nothing was about to happen, but she was emphatic – "from Australia's perspective we do not envisage sending ground forces",  she said. "We have not been asked to, we have not offered to, so we do not envisage that being part of our arrangement with Iraq."

All that could have been done by phone.