WP: Iraqis' Dismay Surges as Lights Flicker and Gas Lines Grow

[kskiska]

Friday, December 24, 2004; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- The car needed gas, so the Matrood family made a day of it.
Dawn was still hours away when mom and dad bundled the children into their dirty blue Daewoo sedan and set off for the filling station. Dusk was falling when they finally reached the pump, which was flanked by National Guardsmen in ski masks, intelligence officers in jackets and rows of concrete barricades -- all necessary to protect a product as precious as a few gallons of gasoline in Iraq these days.

"There were days when we spent the night here," said Abdul Razzaq Matrood, who counted himself lucky after spending a mere 12 hours in a gas line two miles long. "We brought our blankets to sleep in the car."

Energy shortages of every stripe bedevil this country, which sits atop the world's second-largest petroleum reserves. Electricity shuts off for whole days. Prices of scarce cooking fuel have risen nine-fold. And gas lines this month reached new lengths, creating yet another venue for violence. At least two men have been killed in Baghdad over places in line or allegations of watering down the goods.

"The whole situation is unbearable," said Elham Abbas, whose family bought a small generator to use when the power went out, only to find themselves struggling to find enough gasoline to make it run. "As if all these explosions, assassinations and the daily suffering aren't enough!"

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23297-2004Dec23.html

[mediaman007]

1. At what price liberty?

Get us out of Iraq so they can get on with their civil war and start to develop their new government.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Iraq used to have the cheapest and most plentiful gas in the world

And America is helping the Iraqis how, again? I keep forgetting.

[TahitiNut]

3. Ya gotta love them "free market" gas lines.

:eyes:

[countryjake]

4. My idea to make for a safer election...

when & if they ever actually vote to elect that assembly, why couldn't someone have the forethought to stick one line at the bottom of each ballot...Yankees go Home? Yes or No?

Bet ya they'd get a better turnout!

[gizmo1979]

5. What a fiasco

Did they not plan for anything?How could the election even have been close!These guys have no plan,our troops are sitting ducks,and the Iraqis are screwed.Has anything gone right?

[HuskiesHowls]

6. What will the final cost be

to turn a 3rd world country into a Stone-Age country??

[VegasWolf]

7. Yeah, but they have us there to protect their oil! n/t

[manxkat]

8. who cares?

I mean, it's Christmas in America and all is well here at the center of the universe. This kind of overblown "news" just helps those opposed to freedom. The Iraqis should be grateful they have the U.S. there to protect their oil. Sure, they might have to wait in line for a few hours, but hey, that's the price of liberty. Not so much to ask, is it? As for electricity, why do they need that? Iraq never had it before we arrived, since it was just some primitive society out in the desert from what I understand. Let them eat cake.

Signed: a well-fed, faith-based Republican.

[mistertrickster]

9. Wow, it's too bad Iraq doesn't have any oil reserves. Oh, wait . . .

nt

[NYC Liberal]

10. Who cares if they loot gas?

I mean, that's what free people do. Rummy told me, it must be true!

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. "flanked by National Guardsmen in ski masks"

I've been wondering for several years just how and when it happened that American soldiers started going masked. And I see the same thing on shows like Cops, where the assault teams are masked like goddam IRA terrorists.

When did we start doing that? When did soldiers and cops doing their duty decide they needed to be anonymous and terrorizing?

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. They don't have heat or lights, but they got a visit from rummy!

They figured the glow and feeling of warmth rummy would offer would make up for they other untidiness and discomfort. All is well in Iraq. Let freedom reign!

[K8-EEE]

13. My...They Are So Ungrateful!

After all, they have been liberated by the great GWB, they should be so grateful but instead all they do is complain about tiny things like explosions, assassinations, suffering, fuel shortages. tsk tsk!

Time for the RWers to whine, WHY DO THAT HATE US, WAAH!! Maybe they should try living over there for a week, that would asnwer the question