Iraqis Offer Tips Over U.S. Blackout

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030815/ap_on_re_mi_ea/blackout_iraq&cid=540&ncid=1480

Middle East - AP

Iraqis Offer Tips Over U.S. Blackout
20 minutes ago

By NIKO PRICE, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis who have suffered for months with little electricity gloated Friday over a blackout in the northeastern United States and southern Canada and offered some tips to help Americans beat the heat.

From frequent showers to rooftop slumber parties, Iraqis have developed advanced techniques to adapt to life without electricity.

Daily highs have soared above 120 degrees recently as Iraq (news - web sites)'s U.S. administrators have been unable to get power back to prewar levels. Some said it was poetic justice that some Americans should suffer the same fate, if only briefly.

"Let them taste what we have tasted," said Ali Abdul Hussein, selling "Keep Cold" brand ice chests on a sidewalk. "Let them sit outside drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for the power to come back, just like the Iraqis."

Here are some tips from the streets of Baghdad:

more

[MaineDem]

1. I love it!

How appropriate!
:D

[Richardo]

2. A very "Onionesque" headline - I thought it had to be an ironic joke...

The irony is that as a real story it's funnier...

[Paschall]

3. We've been doing some of these things in Europe, too

I've opted for the "shower all day" approach and have been spending quite a few evenings down on the "cooler" banks of the Seine.

People have been spotted sleeping on cots on balconies or in public gardens. The Chinese in my neighborhood have moved their card games out of the cafés to the shaded parks, and been picnicking heavily on melons.

And then there are those moments of individual genius: The other evening, I saw one woman in a spaghetti strap dress "wearing" a (presumably cold) Coke can under each armpit!

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Bush can't keep the lights on in Bagdad...

and he now can't keep them on here.

[htuttle]

5. He should use that as his campaign slogan...

"Boom, Boom! Out go the lights!"

[zekeson]

7. Pull Pat Travers off the State Fair Circuit

He's got a job headlining at *'s next several campaign events!!

http://www.pattravers.com/main.html
snip
2001 also saw Pat Travers join the "Voices of Classic Rock" tour, featuring a wide arrangement of musicians from the major bands of the ‘70's and ‘80's. Among them are the likes of bassist Glenn Hughes and vocalist Joe Lynn Turner of Deep Purple, John Cafferty, Spencer Davis, and Gary U.S. Bond, to name but a few. This tour features each artist doing two or three of their signature tunes. On this tour, PT is playing "Boom Boom", "Snorting Whiskey", and "HotShot", as well as doing much of the lead guitar work on the other songs..

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Sentinel Chicken!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[DemoTex]

6. "Let them feel our suffering ..."

"We sit in the shade," said George Ruweid, 27, playing cards with friends on the sidewalk. Of the U.S. blackout, he said: "I hope it lasts for 20 years. Let them feel our suffering."

Karma at work.

[Rose Siding]

8. It's funny until you realize

just how deep their resentment must run. And we haven't a leg to stand on in our own defense. What will the Bush bumblers wrongs end up costing us?

[FadingOptimist]

9. But somehow, OUR blackout is a Big Important Crisis

...while Iraqis are just complainers...

I had this conversation with my fiance this morning, after ranting about how it was basically the only thing covered in the news last night or this morning. The power has been out or sporadic in most of Iraq for five freaking months, and when Iraqis vocalize their frustration, I've seen Americans dismiss it as "ungrateful complaining." But New York's power outage is a Major Big Crisis, a "Dangerous Situation" (said NPR yesterday afternoon). Governor Pataki advised residents to stay calm, leave windows open, and drink plenty of water. There have been more fires reported than usual, mostly because people are apparently too stupid to handle candles properly. And I didn't hear anybody make the connection to what Iraq has been going through at our hands for the last five months.

Argh.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi Fading Optimist!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[MetaTrope]

10. Iraqi civilians killed at U.S. checkpoints

So what happens when there's a blackout in Iraq?

http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/03/8/11/17328130.cfm

The night air hung like a hot wet blanket over the north Baghdad suburb of Slaykh. At 9 p.m., an electrical transformer blew up, plunging the neighborhood into darkness.

American soldiers, apparently fearing a bomb attack, went on alert. Within 45 minutes, six Iraqis trying to get home before the 11 p.m. curfew were shot and killed by U.S. forces.

Anwaar Kawaz, 36, lost her husband and three of four children. "We kept shouting, 'We're a family! Don't shoot!' But no one listened. They kept shooting," she said. She's expecting another child this month.

It's like Bush's wet dream for NYC...

[MuseRider]

11. I think I remember that before

we really got started in Iraq the people there knew it was not our fault but the Bush* gang. It seems we have lost that. So very sad.