Hearts And Minds

While you're at it, check out this week's temperatures in Baghdad. AP (08.04.07):

"Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage of infrastructure, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the national grid, officials said Saturday.

Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz al-Shimari said power generation nationally is only meeting half the demand, and there had been four nationwide blackouts over the past two days."

Iraq Power Grid Said to Be Near Collapse

"Power supplies in Baghdad have been sporadic all summer and now are down to just a few hours a day, if that."

And if that's not enough. AP (08.02.07):

"Much of the Iraqi capital was without running water Thursday and had been for at least 24 hours, compounding the urban misery in a war zone and the blistering heat at the height of the Baghdad summer.

Residents and city officials said large sections in the west of the capital had been virtually dry for six days because the already strained electricity grid cannot provide sufficient power to run water purification and pumping stations."

Water Taps Run Dry in Baghdad

In fact, Baghdad's electrical supply is so bad, the Administration doesn't even want to talk about it any more. LATimes (07.27.07):

"As the Bush administration struggles to convince lawmakers that its Iraq war strategy is working, it has stopped reporting to Congress a key quality-of-life indicator in Baghdad: how long the power stays on.

Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that Baghdad residents could count on only 'an hour or two a day' of electricity. That's down from an average of five to six hours a day earlier this year.

U.S. drops Baghdad electricity reports

"But that piece of data has not been sent to lawmakers for months because the State Department, which prepares a weekly 'status report' for Congress on conditions in Iraq, stopped estimating in May how many hours of electricity Baghdad residents typically receive each day."

"Instead, the department now reports on the electricity generated nationwide, a measurement that does not indicate how much power Iraqis in Baghdad or elsewhere actually receive."

In the meantime. AP (07.04.07):

"Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say."

Another Record Poppy Crop in Afghanistan

Afghanistan "now accounts for 95 percent of the world's crop, 3 percentage points more than last year, officials familiar with preliminary statistics told The Associated Press."