Bill
05-31-2007, 07:48 PM
"With Baghdad's electricity network in tatters after years of corruption, neglect and attacks, a thriving black market in power has sprung up across the capital. In nearly every neighborhood, multicolored bundles of wires flow from private generators that have all but replaced the national power grid.
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The black market has grown so large that U.S. inspectors estimate private generators produce more than one-third of Iraq's power supply. In Baghdad, where many neighborhoods have not had more than an hour of daily electricity for weeks, it almost certainly accounts for more.
The freelance power merchants also highlight the continuing failure of plans — mostly bankrolled by Washington — to restore many of Iraq's public services to even prewar levels.
"The government is not able and not serious enough to tackle the electricity problem, so we are likely to continue in this business for a long time," al-Obeidi said."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18967454/
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The black market has grown so large that U.S. inspectors estimate private generators produce more than one-third of Iraq's power supply. In Baghdad, where many neighborhoods have not had more than an hour of daily electricity for weeks, it almost certainly accounts for more.
The freelance power merchants also highlight the continuing failure of plans — mostly bankrolled by Washington — to restore many of Iraq's public services to even prewar levels.
"The government is not able and not serious enough to tackle the electricity problem, so we are likely to continue in this business for a long time," al-Obeidi said."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18967454/