Iraqi power grid nearing collapse

[Tab]

Source: Associated Press


By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 22 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - 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.
...
"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.
...
The power problems are only adding to the misery of Iraqis, already suffering from the effects of more than four years of war and sectarian violence. Outages make life almost unbearable in the summer months, when average daily temperatures reach between 110 and 120 degrees.
...
Najaf provincial spokesman Ahmed Deibel confirmed to The Associated Press Sunday that the gas turbine generator there had been removed from the national grid. He said the plant produced 50 megawatts while the province needed at least 200 megawatts.

"What we produce is not enough even for us. We disconnected it from the national grid three days ago because the people in Baghdad were getting too much, leaving little electricity for Najaf," he said.

Compounding the problem, al-Shimari said there are 17 high-tension lines running into Baghdad but only two were operational. The rest had been sabotaged.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070804/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

[Warpy]

1. According to Iraqi bloggers, the grid collapsed a long time ago

and families with the means to pay for it have been using neighborhood generators to give them a few hours of electricity a day.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tab]

4. Participation here is totally voluntary, my friend.

No one's twisting your arm.

The rules about PM postings and such are just to keep people from coming in and harassing right off the bat. There are minimums, but they aren't high. There's a FAQ explaining this here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/faq.html#how-many-posts

[CreekDog]

7. PM is a priviledge not a right

Read your constitution.

[UpInArms]

9. wow! you have all of 11 posts - yes, you are equally as human

but you have not one relationship - so you want to PM who?

[Warren Stupidity]

14. perhaps there is a good reason for that rule?

think! think! what could it be?

p.s. the spell checker works fine regardless of post count.

[TomInTib]

15. "This sight is hypocritical"? Not quite...

But this site is, indeed, hyper-critical.

Big difference.

And we do have guidlines and terms on DU.

Kind of like the Rule of Law.

But our community follows those rules.

[thunder rising]

3. These ingrates

Saddam's dead and don't forget purple fingers.

[Democrats_win]

5. Things seem to be getting worse in Iraq not better.

[rodeodance]

6. stories like this tug at me-after all it was the US that invaded that country and

somehow there has to be responsibility taken. But by who--us (the US citizens?. What role to we take?

[cliss]

8. So.....what about the U.S. Embassy?

Are they having power outages? Or are the lights on>?

(hint: if they are, you are going to see some serious resentment).

[Tab]

11. Pretty sure the embassy has its own generators. n/t

[Tab]

10. Yes, we have finally FREED the Iraqis!

From their dependence on electricity! Now they've learned to do without, and they're much better off.

I don't even want to ask about Afghanistan.

You know, we were supposed to (should have) gone into Afghanistan, routed the Taliban and found/captured/killed Osama bin Laden, rebuilt Afghanistan, and been a beacon to the world of how to make the world more peaceful and safer and better than it was.

Gosh, it's almost like they had a hidden agenda or something.

[benld74]

12. Everything the man touches turns to SHIT, UNLESS he gets bailed out

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Its known as the 'Heck of a job Brownout'. nt.

[Lasher]

16. Baghdad is where they're having the most severe power shortages

Average hours of electricity per day in Iraq were 4-8 nationwide and 16-24 in Baghdad, before the invasion. When the war started in May 2003, availability stayed the same nationally but declined to 4-8 in Baghdad.

The highest benchmark since then was March 2004, at 16 and 16.4 hours, respectively. In May 2007 the lights were on an average of 10.9 hours nationwide and 5.6 in Baghdad.

As of May 3, 2007, the U.S. State Department’s Iraq Weekly Status Report discontinued its reporting of average hours of available electricity.

The above from this very good resource: Iraq Index: Tracking Variables of Reconstruction & Security in Post-Saddam Iraq

[SunDrop23]

17. Oh come on what ever happened to the glass is half..errr...a quarter...err a sixteenth full?

Why, they are lucky they have power at all.

:sarcasm:

[NuttyFluffers]

18. $1 trillion. don't people know pure gold wiring takes time?

of course, the gold wiring has to be insulated, so a thick mesh of vicuna and cashmere needs to be produced.

:freak:

[Barrett808]

19. k & r

[donkeyotay]

20. Local news actually almost covered this story

They started out describing the power and water shortages, but then just passively said it was the worst since Saddam Hussein...and they made it sound as if it was just some bad luck or something, like we had nothing to do with it. People have forgotten that WE INVADED Iraq. It was bush's idea. They had weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was a bad man. Mushroom clouds, etc. The propaganda machine is slowly helping America to forget that the neocon-GOPer complex created this mess, and they spent our money - our retirement, our schools, our infrastucture, our ability to respond to Katrina, etc. - to do it with.