Thanks to Alistair for this link from NPR's All Things Considered.

It's a fine report by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro on the six month wait for prosthetics faced by amputees in Baghdad because of a shortage of manpower and materials.

I know all too well how vital a well-made and comfortable artificial limb is to an amputee.

It's not an exaggeration to say my prosthetist is one of the most important people in my life.

Thanks to the care I've received, most days I barely think about my leg.

I click it on in the morning and am able to walk, cycle, run and work. In fact, I'm probably fitter than most people with two feet.

But the moment something goes wrong -- a rash, an infection, or a poorly-fitting limb -- I immediately become an invalid. The simplest task becomes a major challenge.

My ability to get on with daily life is almost entirely dependent on the carbon fibre, titanium and fibreglass contraption attached to my right tibia.

In a different life, any one of the amputees in the NPR report could have been me.