ISIL advance adds to Iraq’s electricity supply crisis

Iraqis used to point to electricity supply problems as an endemic issue under Saddam Hussein, but they did not go away with the US-led invasion. Shortfalls in power services have added to disillusionment with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s government, and are now challenging the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which – along with Sunni allies – has seized large swathes of Iraq, renaming itself the Islamic State, and triumphantly claiming its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, is the caliph of Muslims everywhere.