There are 800 HUNDRED BILLION in the west. Why ain't you Bitching like global warming? Here is another fun story about your daddy- it is from Dec, gas in Iraq goes from a nickel to 40 cents. And you the Persian gulf avg is 93 cents? Who is lying?
"Gas Stations in Iraq, Price Hike Fuels Outrage
By Jonathan Finer and Naseer Nouri
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, December 28, 2005; Page A15
BAGHDAD, Dec. 27 -- Until recently, Ahmed Taha saw himself as providing a public service, his bustling Abu Qlam gas station dispensing dirt-cheap fuel to Baghdad's growing horde of motorists.
Then one day last week, he said in an interview, the Iraqi government raised gas prices eightfold. Customers already frustrated by strict rationing and mile-long lines were outraged. Station operators got threatening messages to close their doors or else, and several came under armed attack, including at least three in the capital.
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"This job used to be no danger. The only threat we had was fire," said Taha, 31, who boosted his security force in recent weeks from one armed guard to three and started closing an hour and a half earlier, at 8 p.m. Unlike most station operators, he is not a government employee and therefore gets no routine protection from Iraq's police force or army.
"The gas stations had nothing to do with the decision, but insurgents or someone are using it as an excuse to attack the government by attacking us," said Taha, standing in front of his station as a steady stream of drivers filled up and moved on.
The price increase brought the cost of a gallon of gasoline from the equivalent of less than 5 cents to about 40 cents. It is meant to be the first in series of jumps over the next year designed to raise the price of fuel to the average in Persian Gulf states, which a U.S. official said Tuesday was about 93 cents per gallon.
The International Monetary Fund required Iraq to phase out its hefty fuel subsidies as a precondition for forgiving up to 80 percent of its $120 billion foreign debt.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...122700929.html
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