It isn’t the main thrust of this Economist article, but this quote caught my eye:

The searing heat of the Iraqi summer could aggravate tensions and thus the likelihood of attacks. Power-generating capacity?and hence the ability to run fans and air conditioners?is at a disappointing 4,000MW, well below the goal of 6,000MW that the American-led coalition had promised would be available by now. The country is awash with weapons: this week, the annual report of the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research group, said that some 7m-8m light weapons fell into private hands after last year?s Iraq war, due to the insufficient size of the American invasion force.

7 million light weapons. That’s just mind-boggling. I know we have a ton more here in the U.S. but this country is also a great deal larger than Iraq in terms of population and wealth.