In Iraq, no power for the people
By PATRICK MARTIN
From Monday's Globe and Mail
Baghdad — It can happen at any time — when you're in the shower, on the computer, in an elevator or on the toilet. Power outages.
These days in the Iraqi capital, most people get three hours of electricity followed by three hours of none. But even that's not certain. And with temperatures this week topping 50 degrees every day, the lack of electricity to power air conditioners and fans has begun to rival the lack of security as the greatest concern to Iraqis.
Ali al-Amri, 29, runs a small grocery in the capital's Karada neighbourhood. Freezers that once held meat and frozen foods now contain only bottles of pop and water and a block of ice he buys every day to keep them cool. “I'd love to sell ice cream,” he said in his darkened shop, “but there's no way to keep it frozen.”
Bigger stores, businesses and hotels employ their own large generators to fill in the gaps, and downtown Baghdad reverberates with the droning noise of hundreds of the machines.
The smell of kerosene is everywhere.
(more)
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040711.wxiraq0712/BNStory/Front/