Electricity

It’s getting better all the time:

BAGHDAD, Jan 12 (AFP) – Iraq’s national electricity supply has fallen well below its level of before the 2003 invasion, a US army commander told reporters Wednesday.

Power plants now generate only 3,500-3,600 megawatts daily, far less than the 4,400 megawatts of electricity under Saddam Hussein’s rule on the eve of the invasion, said Major General Thomas Bostwick, commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

In fairness, some of the shortage is caused by infrastructure maintenance, and would have resulted even under the best of circumstances. Still, it is remarkable that nearly two years after the war electricity production is less than half what it was in 1990.

Meanwhile, today Arthur Chrenkoff points out that Saddam Hussein’s torturers were somewhat worse than US torturers. Curiously, however, there are no recent posts about how well things are going in Iraq. Most of his stuff now focuses on Afghanistan and tsunami region. Indeed, not even Belmont Club has managed a positive post in a while, instead reserving their time for a series of attacks on Andrew Sullivan. Wonder why. . .