I can only warn everyone from taking such carefully worded think tank talking points at face value, or you're going to end up disappointed. Use them in arguments with your family if you must, but if you're really interested in actual realities on the Iraqi ground, examine every statement for what the author does
not say, or how he says it.
Take for example this part:
"While some Baghdad residents had more electrical power under Saddam’s regime—because it diverted power from other parts of Iraq—many Iraqis now have much greater access to electricity than before the war."
In reality "some Baghdad residents had more electrical power under Saddam" means
most had more power. "Many Iraqis now have much greater access to electricity than before the war" means
most do not, or rather:
most have less access today.
As a matter of fact, per 10 days ago and 32 months after Baghdad was taken, average available electricity in Baghdad was a whopping 8.7 hours per day. For Iraq as a whole it's now 12.6 hours per day. Electricity supplied in Iraq is now again below the pre-war level, and is now about 25% below where it had been in summer 2004.
My source:
US DOS, Iraq Weekly Status Report, Nov 23, 2005, slide 12.
Do your own research, and come to your own conclusions regarding the great progress being made in Iraq. I've come to mine.
Apparently you place no value on freedom, which the Iraqis have now.
Under Saddam, BAGHDAD may have had more electricity, but the country as a whole did'nt.
WE didn't "take away" their electricity. IF there isn't sufficient electricity now, it's because there wasn't enough during Saddam and it takes time to create new things, which weren't in existence during Saddam.