Iraq power system 'near collapse'

[CottonBear]

Source: BBC

Iraq power system 'near collapse'

Baghdad's power supply crashed completely for a day last week
Iraq's national power grid is on the brink of collapse, the country's electricity ministry has warned.
Water supplies to Baghdad have also been cut off for days at a time, with summertime pressures on key systems said to be more intense than ever.

The ministry blamed poor maintenance, fuel shortages, sabotage by insurgents and rising demand for the problems, and said some provinces hold onto supplies.

The US Army told the BBC that Iraq must now take charge of fixing the problems.

The general in charge of helping Iraq rebuild its infrastructure, Michael Walsh, said that although Iraqi authorities only have one-quarter of the money needed for reconstruction, solving the problem was now up to them.

more... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6934973.stm


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6934973.stm

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Total disaster. No electricity means no water. The USA is not going to repair the system. :scared:

[iconoclastic cat]

1. Holy crap, that's bad.

[CottonBear]

2. It is beyond bad, the situation is dire.

The Iraqis are totaly fucked. :(

[kenfrequed]

13. Hmph

Well this is an example of how horribly the invasion was managed.

I was against the darned war from the start. There might have about two or three ways it could have almost maybe worked and about a million ways to do it wrong. I was against it for every possible reason. If it was done the least we could have done was spend the money to flood the place with humanitarian aid- a middle east Marshall plan.

But everything about going to war there was wrong.

[krispos42]

3. We broke it, you fix it.

Oh, and we broke all your tools, too.

And most of your fingers.

[CottonBear]

8. That's a succinct summary of this debacle. n/t

[donkeyotay]

4. But the surge is working. Honest. And more people support the war now.

"....sabotage by insurgents..." What did they expect, that they'd stand up to the Red Coats and cooperate in being annihilated?

[Barrett808]

5. Once the power grid goes, it's back to the 19th century

And, I expect, the nation-state pretty much disintegrates.

[CottonBear]

9. Bingo. n/t

[leftist.]

6. This can't be?!?! We were just about to win!

Power grid on the brink of collapse, Parliament on vacation, the main Sunni Arab political bloc has quit the Iraqi Cabinet, and this story today about 26 troop deaths last week ...

I was certain we'd turned a corner. Even die-hard, bush-hating liberals were saying that Bush was right and that we would win now, and they were saying in (of all places) the liberal New York Times!?!?!

Sean Hannity told me that to cut and run now that we are going to win in Iraq would be evil. And I believe him. Therefore none of these stories are true. Please delete them all from DU. Thank you.

:)

[CottonBear]

7. 26 in one week? Unbelievable. I wonder how many Iraqis perished?

:cry: I'm afraid that the nation of Iraq is ruined beyond repair. They are living a nightmare.

[Az_lefty]

10. Infastructure problems with smirky in charge? Who would have thought

:shrug:

[speedoo]

11. Geez, thank God the "adults" are in charge.

Fucking disaster. The shit is hitting the fan.

[Deep13]

12. But, but, but fighting them there, not over here and stuff!

We're s'posed tah smoke 'em out and junk. Stupid war. I don't want it anymore. :cry:

[lyonn]

14. There is possibly an explaination for the "one day" power loss

There is a thread below in LBN by Rodeodance that might add some light to this story, "In Iraq south, Shiites Press for Autonomy".

[CottonBear]

18. Thanks for the information. Here's a link to Rodeodance's LBN thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2943756&mesg_id=2943756

[lyonn]

19. The article was fairly long and maybe a bit confusing

it did seem more positive than negative. It did discuss the two factions wanting the power but how could that be worse than Many factions trying to destroy the area? Would the Shiites truly try to take control and bring some stability to the area? According to article, these people were not Sadr fans, that was my take.

Rodeodance has lots of good references doesn't she/he? Whatever she/he submits helps paint a totally different version of Iraq than our media. The right wing sound bites are not matching up with the "lower tier" or foreign reporters.

[Hobbs]

15. Another Bush pile of rubble

[ClayZ]

16. "Last throes".......? K and R

[Pastiche423]

17. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

The neocons have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, obliterated their infrastructure and now the Iraqis are supposed to fix "our" mistakes?

[BootinUp]

20. mission accomplished. n/t

[hedgehog]

21. I didn't know enough of it was up far enough to crash.

I've yet to hear a clear explanation of what happened to the Iraqi infrastructure. The Iraqi army retreated/fell apart so fast, why did we bomb the hell out of everything? Didn't anyone bother to tell the Air Force we needed the electrical grid up and running so we could steal the oil?

[spotbird]

22. Someone tell me one good thing

I need hope. Please.

[krispos42]

23. Bush is entering a pretzel-eating contest tomorrow

How's that?

:hugs:

[spotbird]

24. Thank you! :] nt