Juxtapositions, Again

In the blackened hell that is Baghdad, only terror reigns (apparently):

Washington Post
July 3, 2003
Pg. 1

Blackouts Return, Deepening Iraq's Dark Days
Lack of Steady Electricity Is Biggest Obstacle to Reconstruction, Officials Say
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, July 2 -- Two months after Iraqis fired AK-47s into the night sky to celebrate the resumption of electrical service, crippling blackouts have returned to the capital and the rest of the country, impeding the restoration of public order and economic activity, and creating a new focus of anger at the U.S. occupation.

In Baghdad, a vast city of high-rise buildings, bustling markets and scorching summer temperatures, most residents received more than 20 hours of electricity a day before the war -- enough to run elevators, air conditioners and other staples of modern life. Today, the capital got about eight hours of power. On Tuesday, it was even less. And for a few days last week, there was none.

The persistent blackouts -- U.S. and Iraqi specialists blame sabotage, looting, war damage and the failure of old equipment -- have transformed a city that once was regarded as the most advanced in the Arab world to a place of pre-industrial privation where shopkeepers hawk their wares on the sidewalk, housewives store food in iceboxes and families sleep outdoors.

Let's put this in context. How long did it take to rebuild this?



Something more than two months, I suspect.

How many died in the city depicted? (Just over 15,000 -- one raid, one day, early in the bombing campaign)

How many have died in Baghdad? A few dozen?

How many city blocks have been blasted into ruin? None?

To the editors of the WaPo and the "citizens" of Iraq: Quit yer whinin'!

Monk