But we thought everything was fine in Iraq...

"When things get this weird," Molly Ivins says, "one metaphor just isn't enough"--thus the title of her most recent editorial, "The twilight zone of wonderland." Here's an excerpt:

"More than a year after 'Mission Accomplished,' we have still not restored water or electricity in Iraq back to Saddam Hussein's pitiful standards. The electricity is out between four and 14 hours a day in Baghdad, there is no potable water because of pipe breaks and contamination, the garbage is uncollected, and sewage runs in the streets. A year after Congress voted to spend $18.4 billion reconstructing Iraq, only $1 billion has been spent, and most of that has gone to overhead, contractors' profits, security service, insurance and property losses. The jobs have gone largely either to Americans or other foreigners in Iraq, with little benefit to the Iraqis."

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17763