Darkness Visible

Multiply the blackout by months, and what you’d have is Iraq

 I check my watch in Baghdad several times a day for reasons that wouldn’t make much sense in other places: when the power goes off, or when high-powered explosives thud in the distance. If those things happen right on the hour or the half-hour, they’re usually done on purpose and under control by the Americans.

 THAT DOESN’T MEAN they’re a lot easier to take. As about 50 million people in the United States discovered, when it’s hot as hell and the power goes, even for a few hours, a steady breeze of platitudes does nothing to freshen the air. And in Baghdad and Basra, the nights are 20 degrees hotter than in Manhattan.
       
       The punctual explosions in Iraq usually signify the disposal of bombs or shells or other munitions left over from “major combat operations.” But when you live in fear of random, savage violence as people in Baghdad do, then no explosion—no shot, no siren, no shout or cry—is merely background noise.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/953131.asp?0cl=c1

http://darkerxdarker.tripod.com/