February 18, 2006
Putting some numbers to Condi's lies, this tonight from ABC News:
before the U.S. invasion, 13 million Iraqis had access to clean
drinking water. Today, the figure is 8 million -- a 40 percent drop.
But
for really dramatic numbers there's the figure for the numbers of hours
per day that electricity is available to Baghdad residents. Before the
invasion - 18 hours. Now? Four hours. Four hours a day of
electricity. And something else has changed too. Not too long ago,
Baghdad residents could make up for that shortfall with their own
generators, powered by cheap fuel. No more: When fuel
was still cheaper than water, before the government cut subsidies in
December, Shamari made up for the lack of power with a gas-powered
generator. But with the price of fuel now three to five times what it was just three months ago, that's no longer an option. And you have to love how they try to blame the victims:It's
a key factor in Iraq's electricity problem, says [Dawn Liberi, head of
the Iraq office of the USAID]. Under Saddam Hussein most people
received electricity as a virtual state gift, paying symbolic prices
that were out of touch with international rates. After Mr. Hussein, she
says, Iraq has yet to adjust, with most people still paying very
little. As a result, Iraqis have little incentive to conserve. Yeah,
those damn Iraqis. Their electricity use per capita is undoubtedly a
tiny fraction of the use in the United States, but we're going to blame
them for not conserving power. Not to mention blaming them for
having had a semi-socialist system where the state actually provided
basic needs for its citizens. Yeah, we can't have that. Get the natives
used to the "amenities" in life and who knows what they'll demand next?
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