Baghdad in the dark as power cuts continue to blight the city

[buzzsaw_23]

Baghdad in the dark as power cuts continue to blight the city

By Patrick Cockburn, in Baghdad

Published: 27 September 2005

Surveying an abandoned, night-time street in Baghdad, Nadum Ali Jawad is one of the many Iraqis who are fed up with being left in the dark.

"I don't believe sabotage is the main reason for the electricity blackout, I think officials just steal the money meant for new power stations," was the student's verdict on yet another power cut.

Few failures in Iraq 30 months after the fall of Saddam Hussein infuriate Iraqis more than the continuing shortage of electricity.

Baghdad's power now works in maddening shifts - two hours on, four hours off, then two hours on again. The throb of small generators, enough for a television and a few feeble lights, provides a background buzz in every house.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article315316.ece

[Barrett808]

1. Just...pathetic. n/t