Weary Iraqis Face New Foe: Rising Prices

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For Mehdi Dawood, Iraq’s failures have leached into the cucumbers, a staple of every meal that now devours a fifth of his monthly pension.

And it is not just the vegetables. Fuel and electricity prices are up more than 270 percent from last year’s, according to Iraqi government figures. Tea in some markets has quadrupled, egg prices have doubled, and all over the country the daily routine now includes a new question: What can be done without?

“Meat, I just don’t buy it anymore,” said Mr. Dawood, 66, holding half-filled bags at a market in Baghdad. “It’s too expensive.”

“We are all suffering,” he said. “It’s the government’s fault. There is no security. There is no stability.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/world/middleeast/26iraq.html?hp&ex=1156564800&en=d9db71834b52e87c&ei=5094&partner=homepage