The war of the generators.

I was just about to go to work in the morning yesterday to see some of the neighbors gathered around the corner of our street. All were still in their pajamas staring at the lamppost and long faces were abundant, so I figured something bad must have forced them out of beds in this way.

It wasn't long before I found out that someone used the shadows of dawn to cut and steal the wire bundle that delivers electricity from the neighborhood's generator to the homes.
My neighbors were all pissed off obviously as they lost the wires they depend on for 8 hours of daily electricity and replacing the stolen wires will involve expenses and a day or two without the much needed electricity.
It looks like the thief did not commit the theft for money; used segments of wires aren't worth much if sold in the market and at a time when people take guard shifts at night ready to open fire at anything that moves, a thief is expected to choose a more worthwhile target.

I heard two theories about the motive of the theft; one says the theft was committed by those who want life to stop and want to fight Iraqis in all aspects of their life, i.e. sabotage. The second theory suggests the theft was motivated by commercial competition among the various generator owners in the area.

I like honest free market competition; just a few days ago generator owners started to compete on who provides electricity more than the other to attract more subscribers, I personally heard one of them say "if Abu…..gave 8 hours I will give 9 and if he gave 10 I will give 11". Of course this is in the interest of the consumer but if that competition took the form of deliberate sabotage then it's certainly not.

If the 2nd theory proven correct, I'm afraid this competition will become similar to the competition among political parties, who knows! Maybe one day militias will marginalize all electricity providers to force the people to buy electricity from one provider affiliated with this or that militia.

The case is still unsolved but some of the neighbors are suggesting we take shifts at night to guard the wires!