WP: Crossed Wires Kept Power Off in Iraq

[kskiska]

Prewar Planning Failed to Assess State of Infrastructure

Thursday, September 25, 2003; Page A01

BAGHDAD -- When grease-stained technicians at the Baghdad South power plant needed spare parts recently, they first submitted a written request to Bechtel Corp., the engineering firm given more than $1 billion in U.S. government contracts to fix Iraq's decrepit infrastructure.

Then they went to the junkyard.

They scoured piles of industrial detritus for abandoned items that could be jury-rigged into the geriatric plant, such as the hydraulic pump from a bulldozer that was used to restart a broken water condenser.

"Of course we'd like new parts," sighed Ahmed Ali Shihab, the senior operations engineer. But he said repeated appeals to Bechtel and the U.S. military had not yielded any significant new equipment. "All we have received from them are promises," he said.

Although U.S. officials said the requests for new parts were beyond the scope of Bechtel's contract, the failure to get much needed equipment to Baghdad South more than five months after the first reconstruction teams arrived here illustrates the dearth of planning, funding and coordination that has fettered the overall American effort to rehabilitate Iraq.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61044-2003Sep24.html

[Gman]

1. Having to supply parts would blow Bechtel's business plan

They didn't figure on having to really do anything in Iraq except be there and collect $$$ from the US government.

Another threat to a business case emerges.

[Cappurr]

2. Kiska....you beat me by one damn minute

But this is an important article. It puts to rest the bull about the reason the electricty grid is so poor is because Sadaam built palaces. AND it is going to cost the taxpayers billions -- the entire amount hasn't even been revealed yet. AND the Bushies had a report prior to the war that accurately assessed the electric problem. :mad:

[TahitiNut]

3. That's nearly 60 whole seconds.

:silly: Thanks for the quick heads-up, Cappurr!

[kskiska]

4. HeHeHe, Cappurr

You're right, though. It is important. No one so far has explained why the power can't be turned back on.

BTW, glad to see you back on board after your hiatus.

[Cappurr]

5. Yeah?

Well if you are so glad why are you posting my news? :P If I remember correctly, I went through this with you before, and I ultimately gave up. You are just too fast for me so I let you post all the new stuff when the new days papers go on line. Think thats what I'll do.

[kskiska]

9. Keep posting!

I'm not competitive, actually. If someone gets it up first, so be it. I enjoy your legal opinions.
:-)

[sam sarrha]

6. as long as Becktel can keep the power OFF they keep getting our Tax money

as pure profit...capitalismin in motion.... and since it is in association with government/belligerent nationalism, that makes it Fascism, the colloquial is cronie capitalism.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. I would give Ahmed Ali Shihab a job anytime!

These are great, resourceful people. However, I wouldn't give a pile rotten shit for anybody over there from Bechtel. You and I have paid $1,000,000,000 for service like this.

[dbt]

8. But wait! That electricity will be on by the end of September.

Didn't Bremer tell us all on TV? And, whillikers, they wouldn't put something on TV if it weren't true!

:evilgrin:
dbt

[pschoeb]

10. Junkyard Wars Iraq,

Should have got a synicated show and used the money for parts, I know I would have watched, sounds like they did some pretty cool hacking. You can't rely on defense contractors, their required to make 95% profit on all their deals, plus their kickbacks as political contributions.

Patrick Schoeb

[cap]

11. was it really an accident that cut the wires causing the outage???

or did the US deliberately sprinkle special electromagnetic devices designed to short out the wires like we did with Milsosevic?