The clock ticks for Iraq's time bomb

Sami Moubayed, Asia Times
... Under Maliki, for example, electricity comes one hour every three days. Under Saddam it went off only two hours during the day and two hours during the night. A gas cylinder under Saddam cost 1,500 dinars (US$1.20) whereas now it has become 16,000 dinars. Oil - during this heavy winter - has reached 20,000 dinars. One liter of gasoline, for example, equals $1, whereas under Saddam it used to be 3 cents per liter (...) Speaking from his new home in Damascus, where he has fled terrorist bombings in his own country, the young man added: "I long for the days of Saddam Hussein. If you stayed away from politics, you lived a decent and respectable life. Nowadays, you are a target for terrorist attacks whether you are a grocer, a barber, a painter or a politician. Nobody is safe in this Iraq." He wrapped up: "My mother's generation used to go out in Baghdad wearing mini-skirts..." continua / continued