THE POWER IN IRAQ

There has been quite a bit of furor lately on the issue of whether we're 'winning' the war in Iraq. (As opposed to in World War III, in which commentators like Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh insist we are conducting).

The issue of power generation has become one of those hazy bones upon which the left and right are tugging. If it's up, then that suggests we're winning. If it's down, then we're losing.

So the media (speaking generally) is making the valid claim that power generation across the country is down. On average, Iraqis are getting 4 hours of power a day, whereas before the liberation they were getting 6-8.

This morning, a US Army general, a General McCoy, conceded that may be true, but there is now a new balance. Now the outlying territory is getting up to 12 hours of power per day. But Bagdad is now down to 4 hrs per day. (Before, according to McCoy, Bagdad was getting all kinds of hours of power). So, while the per-day average to Iraqis is down, in all the places outside of Bagdad it's up. So, we are winning the power battle. I guess that was his point.
(See here for the convoluted reasoning in full: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5205361).