NYT: In Iraq Chaos, Uphill Struggle to Bring Power

[kskiska]

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 16 - Call it the Iraqi version of the tortoise and the hare.

On a six-day journey this week, more than 500 tons of house-size components on their way to the capital crept across Al Anbar Province, a grimy and murderous border region, at the white-knuckle pace of 10 to 15 miles an hour. Protected by an armada of helicopters, Bradley tanks, Humvees and bulletproof Land Cruisers, the convoy looked like the makings of some kind of space program, but in fact it carried sections of an enormous generator, financed by American taxpayers, to upgrade the Iraqi power grid. In operations like this, Iraq's physical reconstruction inches forward.

But lined up against the reconstruction effort is the danger that strikes with seemingly inescapable suddenness all over Iraq: in one recent example involving a similar convoy, two Jordanian drivers working for the company whose trucks move the generators were gunned down.

Pressure is increasing on the Bush administration to show that the rebuilding effort will win this race, and that some of the many projects that have been delayed or temporarily abandoned will soon improve the lives of Iraqis, giving them a reason to trust the government and reject the anarchy of the insurgency.

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/10/17/international/middleeast/17recon.html?hp&ex=1097985600&en=d64ccdeb082e0947&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[Moderator]

1. Duplicate

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