Where I am in Maryland, USA, prior to the war it was getting more and more exspensive. I would say it rose 15 cents per gallon!

It has dropped off only slightly though after the war started. I too, expected it would go higher.

Didn't Saudi Arabia sort of release extra barrels of oil, to help take care of any loss felt of Iraqi oil during this war? If so, that could be your answer.

Maybe I should convert my price in gallons so US people understand a bit more how much 15 cents per litre is a big difference.
Before the war, prices did increase a bit indeed, to go all the way up to the equivalent of $3,36/gallon, and now it's droped to the equivalent of $2,80/gallon. More than 55 cents per gallon less.

Paxx....yes, the same is evident in Australia....and just keep an eye on the stock market....seems there are plenty reaping profits from this war...hence its reason for being...
As the oil reserves become more closely under Western control/protection so the availability improves, therefore prices drop.
Good old supply and demand.
The demand is the same, but the supply is more 'reliable'...

Average price per litre in Oz is around A$1.00 per litre, depending on the time of the day, week, or holiday periods! >
Ballpark numbers, US$00.70 per litre, or US$3.15 per Imperial gallon (round numbers 4.5 litres per gallon) and that's not for premium grade either.......if I remember correctly the 'US Gallon' is around 3.15 litres?????
Whatever, Iraq is not being fought over with oil as the number 1 priority, it's all to do with longer term strategic positioning and short term publicity for the present administration.

Gasoline pricing in some respects can be like the stock market. That is, often prices are raised before there is any "real" circumstance such as reduced supply and/or increased demand. They're raised just in the anticipation of such potential conditions. When supply was assured, the prices went down.

Gas prices here went up 40 cents a gallon the day that a barrel of oil went up 40 cents. When oil went down $2 a barrel I was hoping for the best unfortunately gas hasn't gone down at all. It's currently $1.98 a gallon. When I was in California last week I paid between $2.11 and $2.20 for regular.

sig - I think I got confused about the VX incident. My memory from that period is kind of fuzzy and I think I put two incidents together. I think the VX thing was in Cambodia sometime in '69 maybe. I vaguely remember it was a "test" of some new chemical and was used on a VC convoy or something. As I recall there was no casualty info and I think I mixed it up in my head with the CNN incident.

It wasn't long after that that I had my first dose of one of their new gasses in Washington DC. I think it was called CS, it was pink, like gasoline and it had a crystaline structure, left crystals all over my camera lens. Made me appreciate how ugly gas is and I thought about the VX stuff which was also something new.

National Insurance also on the up

A litre is a litre, the world over...except the Yanks like to call it 'liter', but being a French standard its naming should be, likewise....

Imperial gallons vs US gallons are different....but a US ton is 2000lb, and a short ton is 2200lb and a tonne is 1000 kg, as I recall...

you'll need to paste the leftover bits on the first and last links to see them.

Hmm, where did that page 61 come from? It wasn't there when I started typing my previous post.

http://www.thisislondon.com/til/jsp/modules/Article/print.jsp?itemId=4263150

"......The mood of wild euphoria among the five million-strong population of Baghdad was mixed with menace. One man waved an AK47 in the air as he shouted: "Liberty, Liberty. This is the day we have been waiting for for years and years."

Marines were showered with flowers during their unopposed street-by-street approach towards the regime's last stronghold on the east bank of the Tigris. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "It looks as though we may be towards the close of hostilities."

The idea of human shields was very noble... as sometimes noted though, noble isn't always the best choice. while they were there they found that the Saddam government only wanted them to go to military targets and oil fields. Some were rightfully upset about it and others felt if there were more human shields maybe it would have worked out.


I don't think the number of 'shields' would have changed Saddam's approach on how to use them. I haven't heard much from the human shield side of this and there experiences on the news.


Now didn't I say that week 3 will be the week to watch? Now week 4 begins. Few things will happen. Week 5 is another week to watch.



Funny:
While I was taking a test, I couldn't get this song out of my head. It was that Justin Timberlake song... Rock you body or something... anyway, while it was playing in my head I changed the words (all this while taking this hard test)

Here it is---
Don't be so quick to capitulate
I want to blow up your government
everyday
....

Talk to me Saddam-
Your not loosing fast enough
your taking to long

Talk to me Saddam-
I'm gonna have you blown up
By the end of this song


do do do
dodo doo doo do do
do do do
dodo doo doo do do


Such a violent remix if you ask me. Must be releaving stress.

I'm wondering where all the people who said the Iraqi people hated us and didn't want to be liberated went... got awfully quiet. They may hate us, but they seem to be pretty satisfied with the 'liberated' part.