THE "SURGE" CAN'T FIX THIS

MAINSTREAM MEDIA OVERLOOKS LACK OF ELECTRIC POWER AND GASOLINE IN STRIFE TORN IRAQ

The mainstream media in the United States measures everything in Iraq by the yardstick of how well the military "surge" is going.

Unfortunately, the problems which confront Iraq cannot be solved by the United States military.

Citizens of Iraq are suffering through long lines at the gasoline pumps and many Iraqis have little or no electricty.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi government continues to flounder trying to find some basis for reconciliation.

Add to this grim scenario the fact that 160,000 U.S. troops are bogged down in Iraq with no signs of withdrawl in the forseeable future.

Iraq continues to be a human rights, political and military mess and the press in the United States have decided the Iraq war is not worth covereing anymore.


Desperate Iraqis Lack Fuel, Electricity

By Ben Lando, UPIPosted on January 23, 2008, Printed on January 23, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/74617/

You can't have one without the other, but with many of Iraq's power plants shut and refineries stopped, Iraqis have neither fuel nor electricity.

Iraq's Electricity Ministry is blaming the Oil Ministry for cutting fuel supplies and Turkey for ending electricity imports.

The Oil Ministry says continuous power to its refineries will lead to continuous supplies of fuel.

"We hear a lot of promises but we see nothing," Baghdad resident Amjad Kazim told Gulf News. Blackouts and long lines at the fuel stations are increasing as subsidized, state-controlled supplies run dry and the black market boosts prices.

In Baghdad's neighborhoods, black market auto fuel prices have jumped by nearly 20 percent in the past week, according to IraqSlogger.com.

Various U.S. government reports show fuel supplies are half the target and the ministries are unable to make the needed capital investment.

Iraq suffered from extensive power outages last summer, but reports showed steadily increasing capacity and delivery of electricity through the end of the year. Now there are widespread reports of two hours of power a day through much of the country.

"We have not had electricity for a week now and it took me about four hours to buy fuel for my car," east Baghdad resident Jaafar Dhia Ali said in a U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report.

Winter has set in reaching below zero temperatures in Baghdad alone.