Medary.com

Christian Science Monitor report:

Turki says he has a number of friends who have shut small businesses because of intermittent power, and worries that a weak economy will lead to an even less stable Iraq than the one now.

"We have two problems: the terrorists and the government that is stealing from us," he explains.

He gestures to a tangle of wires hanging from a utility pole outside his shop, which he said exploded about a month ago.

A repairman from the Ministry of Public Works showed up a few days later and then demanded bribes from all of the businessmen on the street to get electricity to the neighborhood up and running again.

"We wouldn't pay - we're fed up with this stuff. The Americans can't fix it and the government is just out for themselves. What did we vote for anyway?"

I'll make the Timetable Chorus a deal: They give us a timetable for when the Iraqis can establish reliable basic services, and I'll give them a timetable for withdrawing Western forces from Iraq.