Posted on 08/05/2007 1:03:06 PM PDT by BGHater
Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the national grid, officials said Saturday.
Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz al-Shimari said power generation nationally is only meeting half the demand, and there had been four nationwide blackouts over the past two days. The shortages across the country are the worst since the summer of 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, he said.
Power supplies in Baghdad have been sporadic all summer and now are down to just a few hours a day, if that. The water supply in the capital has also been severely curtailed by power blackouts and cuts that have affected pumping and filtration stations.
Karbala province south of Baghdad has been without power for three days, causing water mains to go dry in the provincial capital, the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
"We no longer need television documentaries about the Stone Age. We are actually living in it. We are in constant danger because of the filthy water and rotten food we are having," said Hazim Obeid, who sells clothing at a stall in the Karbala market.
Electricity shortages are a perennial problem in Iraq, even though it sits atop one of the world's largest crude oil reserves. The national power grid became decrepit under Hussein because his regime was under U.N. sanctions after the Gulf War.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
So, in some ways, it’s a lot like California?
AP and Reuters the negative advocates of the Democrats.
Sad to say the US power grid isn’t much better.
aw, man.....they’ll gitcha for posting this, LOL
and some noob has got the idea that you shouldn’t post without making comments, too.
deja vu all over again, just watch :)
Where’s Baghdad Bob when ya need him?
So many of these superficial articles overlook the context required to make an honest and rational assesment of the situation. I think it is deliberate. Do you?
For some context, from other articles;
“Restoring and improving Iraq’s electricity supply has been USAID’s biggest and most costly challenge. In April 2003, Iraq’s usable electrical generation capacity was 2,500 MW - 58 percent of the pre-conflict level. Before the conflict, access to power was unreliable and varied greatly throughout the country. USAID worked to restore electricity to homes, public facilities, and business throughout Iraq.”
“Even upon reaching the 6,000-megawatt target in the near-term, Moon said, demand will continue to outstrip supply. But even at less than 100 percent, he noted, most Iraqis are receiving more power than they did under Saddam Hussein.
Prior to the U.S. invasion in 2003, Moon said, electricity was rationed as a political spoil. Baghdad was kept illuminated at the expense of the outlying provinces.
“After Operation Iraqi Freedom, 75 percent of Iraq automatically was receiving twice as much power as they did before,” Moon observed. “Unfortunately for the residents of Baghdad who were used to that lion’s share, they saw the reduction.”
What has happened with electricity in Iraq is similar to Iraq cell phone usage;
“Under Saddam Hussein’s regime, ordinary citizens didn’t have wide access to mobile phones, outside of the Kurdish north, and only 833,000 of Iraqi’s 26 million people had telephone land lines, according to the U.S. State Department. “
“Now that Saddam is gone, mobile phone use in Iraq has skyrocketed. cell phones became widely available in February 2004 with the establishment of Iraqna, which provides service in Baghdad and other parts of central Iraq. Today there are 1.6 million cell users in Iraq.”
Demand has overloaded that system too.
Doesn’t it irritate you that by not telling the whole story the MSM implies like the problem is because of the US presence there? they are just subtle enough that naysayers, losers, Bushbashers, cob on.
“The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.”
LOL! No kidding!
Astoria was without power for two weeks last summer.
Why would demand be rising? Didn’t the left say we killed over 600,000 Iraq’s since the invasion. Also hasn’t the left say the Iraq economy is crap which means no one has jobs to pay the electric bills or buying stuff to use power.
Saddam’s regime was under UN sanctions, preventing himn from improving and maintaining electrical power generating and distributing facilities, while not restraining him at all in his quest for advanced weaponry (from France, USSR, etc.) or from constructing a dozen or more lavish, marble and gold palaces.
How good it must be, to work as an AP writer!!
Oops, forgot a sarcasm tag. I saw the other one. Thanks.
The article is for blindered consumption by stupid people who will not fact check and see that electrical generation capacity was 2,500 MW pre IOF and is set to hit 6000MW soon.
Was that left out by accident or was it deliberate?
Nah...I think this time they’re going to jump on him for duplicate posting...;)
I’ll say it...IBTZ
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