Baghdad, Iraq – Abbas Mutlaq and Thaer al-Mufti live at opposite ends of Iraq, but both have given up on the government to supply electricity, turning instead to private generators to keep the lights on.
And both say the power-supply situation has worsened since the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein, despite the billions of dollars set aside by the Bush administration for reconstruction.
“Before the fall of the regime, power was three hours on, three hours off,” said Mutlaq, an auto- parts dealer in the southern city of Basra. “Now it comes on for a total of just eight hours (a day) and maybe less.”
For many Iraqis, chronic power problems have become a test of American promises of a better life without Hussein’s tyranny. Iraqis often ask why a superpower that can send thousands of soldiers and supplies to fight a war half a world away cannot guarantee that the lights work.
“I should only complain to God, but let me just say that sometimes we don’t have electricity for 72 hours,” said al-Mufti, a father of five in the northern city of Mosul. “Often, we have one hour of electricity the entire day.”
Baghdad, a metropolis of nearly 7 million people, is a city starved for energy. Most streets are not lighted at night, when the din of power generators fills the air. Wires connecting neighborhood generators to private homes hang over narrow alleys in poor residential areas.
U.S. officials have acknowledged that the failure to provide power has dogged the U.S. mission in Iraq since the beginning.
In Senate testimony Wednesday, Stuart Bowen, the U.S. special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, blamed insurgent attacks and higher demand for the shortfall and acknowledged that the electricity situation is worse now than under Hussein.
Of 425 electricity-related proj ects, Bowen said only 300 would be completed before the $18.6 billion approved by Congress in November 2003 for reconstruction in Iraq runs out.
“Everyone dreamed of a better life after Saddam went. We wanted more electricity and a generally higher standard of living,” Mutlaq said. “We are still shocked that none of our dreams came true. … Some people even think life under Saddam was better.”
The problem of electricity becomes more unbearable in summer, when temperatures soar to 120 degrees. That forces many to sleep on their rooftops.
With electricity erratic at best, clean water also has become rare. Even if the water is purified at treatment plants, lack of power often means water cannot be pumped to apartment dwellers.
Renowned for their resilience, most Iraqis cope by drawing power from neighborhood generators run and maintained by businessmen for a fee.
