Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Daily Life
In the height of the summer, the thermometer in Baghdad can climb as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday, it was a toasty 112 degrees Fahrenheit. However, I didn't notice. Inside my air conditioned office building, I felt so cold that I had to put on a polar fleece.

Americans working in Iraq have bought lots of air conditioners. Even soldiers have air conditioning units. Most tents at major military bases have some type of air conditioning system and almost every military office has one too. In fact, I have even seen mobile air conditioners placed outside next to Marine checkpoints near the U.S. Embassy.

Meanwhile, Iraqi soldiers wonder why they have to melt in the heat as Americans soldier sleep inside air conditioned tents, and my Iraqi coworkers probably wonder why the Americans have the 24 hours of power needed to continually run their air conditioners while most Iraqis in Baghdad only receive 12 hours of power per day.

And in other news . . . key reconstruction statistics keep looking worse and worse.