Thus, one should not be surprised that many educated people who bought their cars in the eighties roam the streets in search of customers. One driver who worked for me for a few days was an engineer with respectable English. After repeatedly getting lost in Baghdad searching for places that I wanted to see, he looked forward to his well-deserved rest. His dream of leaving the country for economic reasons is shared by many, but very few can afford to do so. Even with a passport, they can rarely obtain visas to countries of their interest.
Most embassies are closed, and very few are willing to issue visas to Iraqi citizens.
The situation is so hopeless that even the numerous marriage proposals that I received were a matter of habit rather than real belief that, with me as a wife, one would be allowed out. The people's energy and spirit were drained once the oil wells stopped working at full capacity. In July Iraqis looked like zombies, their condition worsened no doubt by electricity shortages. Baghdad receives six hours of electricity a day. The majority of cities and towns in Iraq can only hope for four.