Iraqis Try to Stock Up on Food, Gasoline as Unease Spreads Election Eve

[Bluebear]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Nightfall approached, the military curfew drew near and Baghdad residents scurried from shop to shop on one of the city's main streets to stock up on food, water and gasoline before Sunday's national election. "I hope the coming government will be wise and will look at what people need," said Umm Ahmed, one of the shoppers who braved the city's dangerous streets.

Like many Iraqis, the 33-year-old homemaker said she was worried she might not be able to get to the shops in the next days because of curfews and violence. "I am looking for bread," she said, explaining that most of the bakeries near her house are closed.

Glancing down the street toward a bread shop where people were waiting in line, she said she had given up trying to get gas, used by residents not just for cars but to power generators during Baghdad's frequent electricity outages.

"I am trying to make my sons used to the darkness," Ahmed said.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_stocking_up_2

[Bluebear]

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