But for really dramatic numbers there's the figure for the numbers of hours per day that electricity is available to Baghdad residents. Before the invasion - 18 hours. Now? Four hours. Four hours a day of electricity. And something else has changed too. Not too long ago, Baghdad residents could make up for that shortfall with their own generators, powered by cheap fuel. No more:

When fuel was still cheaper than water, before the government cut subsidies in December, Shamari made up for the lack of power with a gas-powered generator. But with the price of fuel now three to five times what it was just three months ago, that's no longer an option.

And you have to love how they try to blame the victims:

It's a key factor in Iraq's electricity problem, says [Dawn Liberi, head of the Iraq office of the USAID]. Under Saddam Hussein most people received electricity as a virtual state gift, paying symbolic prices that were out of touch with international rates. After Mr. Hussein, she says, Iraq has yet to adjust, with most people still paying very little. As a result, Iraqis have little incentive to conserve.

Yeah, those damn Iraqis. Their electricity use per capita is undoubtedly a tiny fraction of the use in the United States, but we're going to blame them for not conserving power. Not to mention blaming them for having had a semi-socialist system where the state actually provided basic needs for its citizens. Yeah, we can't have that. Get the natives used to the "amenities" in life and who knows what they'll demand next?