Meatstick News: Summer In Baghdad

Here is an AP article that explains what life is like for residents of Baghdad this summer. If you don't want to believe the AP article, here is another one by Reuters. There are many things in these articles worth quoting, but I'll try to just pick a few:

"I live with five brothers. When the water comes in we stand in a queue waiting to take a shower," said Ali Musa, a security guard from the al-Hurriya district in western Baghdad.
The number of Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies has risen from 50 per cent to 70 percent since 2003, while 80 per cent lack effective sanitation, British charity Oxfam said in a report last month. Baghdad has about one or two hours of electricity a day and most residents rely on neighborhood generators and smaller diesel-powered machines to supplement the supply.

Stories like these might not be as shocking and interesting to Americans (or Fox Noise) as car bombs in markets that kills dozens of people. However, power shortages and lack of water stories are equally as important to report because they seem to effect everyone in Iraq. Well, everyone except people living in the Green Zone and the other numerous US Army bases across the country.
Here is an interesting quote:

Noah Miller, spokesman for reconstruction at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, said the water shortages were due to a nationwide power cut on Wednesday and possible leakages in water pipes due to old equipment or illegal tapping.

He is obviously talking about the parts of Iraq that aren't occupied by a military base. Here is a quote from the owner of the al-Rasheed hotel in the Green Zone:

"Living here is like living in Europe," says Haider Hassan, a store clerk at the $280-a-night al-Rasheed Hotel inside the Green Zone. "You miss nothing, starting with electricity, power, water and security. Outside the gates is hell."

Although my experience living on a military base in Iraq wasn't exactly like "living in Europe." I will tell you that as temperatures rose to 118 degrees during the Iraqi summer, my air conditioner dropped to a cool 65 degrees. I also managed to watch Ken Jennings' Jeopardy streak on my satellite TV while sipping on ice cold Fanta from my refrigerator. The only time I didn't have power was when a numbnut private forgot to fill up the generator with Turkish pumped oil.
I guess that explains the frustration and why Iraqi insurgents that aren't fortunate enough to live on a US military base in Iraq feel the need to mortar them on a daily basis. That really used to piss me off. There is nothing worse than a mortar landing in your compound while you are trying to concentrate on Final Jeopardy.