Even Iraqis are struggling to afford gas

[maddezmom]

Even Iraqis are struggling to afford gas
A lot of their pay now goes for fuel
May 30, 2007

BY JENAN HUSSEIN and HUSSEIN KADHIM

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Abu Mohammed is a slight man without prospects of beefing up. His 8-year-old son is barely tall enough to lean his skinny frame against the rear of their old car.

But from dawn to dusk two or three times a week, they push the rusty vehicle up an incline, one car length at a time, to buy gasoline they can scarcely afford.

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Their shove to the front of the line repeats itself throughout the week so Mohammed can drive a cab.

If he makes $20 a day ferrying fellow Iraqis around Baghdad, $18 of that -- 23,000 Iraqi dinars -- will go for gas.

"If God provides," he said, "I might have some petrol left for my generator."

In a nation with some of the world's greatest oil reserves, people have little sympathy for Americans cringing at gasoline that costs $3 a gallon or more. They're too occupied trying to find their own gasoline and too worried about whether they can afford it.

more:http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070530/NEWS07/705300362