Bahgdad Burning

They don't seem to be enjoying their "freedom" very much in Bahgdad:

E. was the first to hear it. We were sitting in the living room and he suddenly jumped up, alert, "Do you hear that?" He asked. I strained my ears for either the sound of a plane or helicopter or gun shots. Nothing... except, wait... something... like a small stream of... water? Could it be? Was it back? We both ran into the bathroom where we had the faucets turned on for the last eight days in anticipation of water. Sure enough, there it was- a little stream of water that kept coming and going as if undecided.

[...]

E. and I rose early this morning because we decided last night that should the water continue to flow, we'd attempt to fill up the big water tank on the roof. The water from this tank goes directly to the electric water heater but since we haven't been using that for a while now, we decided to close up the tank and use it as a sort of secondary storage. We cannot get caught off-guard again. Drinking water rose to almost 1,000 Dinars a liter this last week.

(Side note: that's about $1 per liter in our terms. That doesn't sound bad, until you remember that they have no other running water. Imagine having to buy bottled water for all your daily uses - washing, cooking, etc. I'd guess that would probably run to....what? 5-10 gallons per day? So, at most $300/month (equal to 1/10th of the average annual iraqi income) for everyday water?)

Unfortunately, the electricity situation has deteriorated. We're getting about four hours for every twenty hours in our area- I'm not quite sure what's going on in the other areas. It feels like we're almost cut off from each other. Baghdad has been unstable these last few days. We had several explosions this last week and although the number of explosions wasn't surprising, the force of a couple of them had us wincing. There's a real fear of the coming elections and what they might bring. I don't like the idea that they've selected schools as election sites. School is out right now, but the security threat is obvious- elections sites are most likely going to be bombed. Schools are having a difficult time as it is getting things fixed and replaced, they don't need the added trauma of an explosion. It's just a bad idea.

[...]

Almost everyone is trapped at home because the security situation is quite bad and no one wants to be caught in an area where an explosion might occur. If the bomb doesn't kill you, the Iraqi security forces or the Americans might and if no one kills you then you risk getting a bag over the head and a trip to Abu Ghraib. There's an almost palpable anxiety in the air these last couple of weeks and it's beginning to wear on people- fuel shortages, water shortages and a lack of electricity. It's like the first days of the war all over again.


These are the people we "rescued from Saddam". The people we expected would be showering us with flowers, greeting us as liberators. Should we not be surprised if they are a little less than enthusiastic about our presence?

Also, where is the state of Iraq, the plight of it's civilians ever reported in the media? Most Americans probably think that things are just great in iraq right now, freedom is on the march, we're building schools, handing out candy, money, and cigarettes to happy smiling Iraqis. The reality is that we can't even supply them with heat, electricity, water, or working phones. How screwed up would our lives be if we had to go without those things not for days or weeks, but months at a time.


KRapTackular.