Despite Iraq's huge oil reserves, corruption, mismanagement and the lack of
security have created a severe gasoline shortage that has sent prices to
$3.20 per gallon and forced drivers to wait in gasoline lines for as long as
24 hours.

At least 67 people, including dozens of looters siphoning gasoline from a
government pipeline, were killed in an explosion late Monday night after
fuel vapor was accidentally ignited by a cigarette lighter, the Iraqi police
and government officials said.

"They were filling their jerrycans until one of the looters lit a lighter to
smoke his cigarette, and that resulted in the explosion," he said.
Dr. Hussain al-Janabi, director of Diwaniya hospital, said several bodies
had arrived charred or burned beyond recognition. He said by telephone that
witnesses had said that the spark that ignited the blast came from a man who
used a lighter to check if his can was full.
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Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto -- "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.