Baghdad bracing for summer electricity crisis.
Last year, “massive blackouts” hit Baghdad, as temperatures spiked into triple digits. State Department official Charles Ries said that electricity demand, which has been growing 7 to 9 percent each year, “could be greater” this year. Additionally, blackouts may be more severe because “drought has cut in half power generated by hydroelectric plants.” “There is no chance we will be able to meet demand in the summer,” Ries said.
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After all this time and all this money. Anybody still standing by the decision to invade this country is a traitor and deserves to be sent to Iraq - on a permanent vacation.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:42 pm“There is no chance we will be able to meet demand in the summer,” Ries said.
Aaaaah, yes. THE SURGE IS WORKING!!!!
When do I get my $0.39/gallon gas, again?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pmHave no fear, everybody, have no fear. Electricity will be stockpiled at the U.S. Embassy there for the going rate. $$$
April 28th, 2008 at 2:47 pmVoR will make a joke out of every sadistic occurrence in world.
Just as long as it doesn’t happen to you, right, pal?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pmHalf a trillion dollars worth of progress! YES!!
MORE BLOOD!
April 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pmCongratulations to G.W. Busch for turning Iraq into a waste land.
Such a waste….of everything.
_AIO_
April 28th, 2008 at 2:53 pmIs it too late to bring back Saddam?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:56 pmGWB will be known as the “2 for 1″ president. At the time he took office, most Americans and Iraqis could afford electricity, food and other necessities…now millions in both countries are struggling and BOTH countries are worse off than they were pre-bush.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:58 pmNow why would that be? Why would there be greater demand for electricity? Unless there has been (GASP) (am I allowed to say it?) — Progress?
Or perhaps just an increase in population?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:59 pmAfter “shock and awe”, there wasn’t any demand.
You can’t go lower than zero demand so an upward tick is only inevitable, but not DEFINITELY not praise worthy.
Stupid-fcuk mouth-breathers…
April 28th, 2008 at 3:01 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
McWars, please tell me. Why is there a greater demand for electricity? (hint: it’s in the linked article)…..
Let me be as polite as possible: You’re an idiot. The metric the story is using tells us the the demand for the AVAILABLE ELECTRICITY is increasing. That is because when we shocked and awed them 6+ years ago, we ruined their ability to produce electricity in an amount necessary to satisfy the demand. So the story is telling us that - after all this time - we STILL CANNOT PRODUCE ENOUGH ELECTRICITY TO SATISFY DEMAND. The increases demand does not - as you suggest - tell us that progress is accelerating, it tells us that we cannot secure the country enough to adequately fix and maintain the available power stations to meet the demand.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:04 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
“electricity demand, which has been growing 7 to 9 percent each year…” — Now why would that be? Why would there be greater demand for electricity? Unless there has been (GASP) (am I allowed to say it?) — Progress?
Okay, then, if things are going so well there, isn’t it time to leave? Since you seem to be channeling official DOD propaganda, can you explain to us under what conditions our troops will withdraw from our occupation?
April 28th, 2008 at 3:09 pmLet me be as polite as possible: You’re an idiot.
And a morally bankrupt idiot, at that.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:09 pmSince you seem to be channeling official DOD propaganda, can you explain to us under what conditions our troops will withdraw from our occupation?
Just as soon as Dumbya moves to Paraguay and locks the gate behind him. Once he is safe from prosecution, he will allow the soldiers to go home. That sounds like a form of democracy VOR can live with.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:11 pmVoR, I’m sure the indicator of electricity demand in Iraq would be welcome if the supply was existent. Five years ago, the Iraqi people didn’t agree to restart at 0 so you could internationally parrot your neoconomic talking points of “economic growth.” And we all know what that means, “whatever cons touch, turns to shit, and the gold underneath gets cleaned off and distributed to my buddies.”
April 28th, 2008 at 3:12 pmthe story is telling us that - after all this time - we STILL CANNOT PRODUCE ENOUGH ELECTRICITY TO SATISFY DEMAND.
How can the dipshit, Neocon-lock-steppers not understand why the Iraqi’s want us the fcuk out?!
April 28th, 2008 at 3:13 pmObviously VoR is the paid partisan operative du jour at this site, camping out here all day, defending every destructive, criminal, or just plain stupid action taken by the Bush administration.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:14 pmCons took the hobby of “taking things apart and putting it back together” to the extreme. We didn’t tell you to blow up Iraq, children, we told you to earn your ASE Certification.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:16 pmSo picture your family without electricity…nothing can stay in the frig, it will rot, if you can food at all, 110 degrees, no fan, no airconditioning, no clean water…and that excludes all over our excesses…hell, I can’t image a weekend without superfast internet, much less electricity.
We took them from Hell level 1 and put them in Hell level 7.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
——————————————————————————–
“electricity demand, which has been growing 7 to 9 percent each year…” — Now why would that be? Why would there be greater demand for electricity? Unless there has been (GASP) (am I allowed to say it?) — Progress?
April 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
There’s a greater demand for electricity because there are less and less plants still up and running ; that tends to occur when they are destroyed by an illegal and idiotic and on-going invasion and occupation , you truly ignorant putz.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:27 pmSounds like we need more no bid contracts for Killiburton…
April 28th, 2008 at 3:27 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
——————————————————————————–
14. Sure, if you really want me to. It is my understanding that 10 of 18 Iraqi provinces are now under control of Iraqi security forces. When that number reaches 18 of 18 and Iraq’s borders are reasonably secure, it will be time for us to withdraw from what you term an “occupation.” On the other hand, if the freely elected government of Iraq asks us to leave sooner, then it will be time to leave.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
According to whom ?
You and the Chimpy administration ?
What a veritable cornucpoia of information ………..
April 28th, 2008 at 3:29 pmAh, do I hear the hollow ring of the Voice of Treason?
April 28th, 2008 at 3:29 pmMy son-in-law is being deployed to that hell hole again in a couple of months.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:30 pmVoR thinks this is “progress”:
‘Electricity remains a dispiritingly scarce commodity, even though more than $6 billion, mostly in American money, has been devoted to improving supply. From an encouraging peak of 5,530 megawatts last July 11, typical daily peaks have slipped back to around 4,500 megawatts, according to a recent report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. That’s only about 500 megawatts more than what it was shortly after the start of reconstruction five years ago — before the completion of thousands of American-supported projects. Summer peak demand in the country will be at least 11,000 megawatts, the State Department estimates.’
This is a good article about the matter,
April 28th, 2008 at 3:31 pmhttp://www.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 03/ 11/ opinion/ 11zorpette.html
Voice_of_Reason Says:
On the other hand, if the freely elected government of Iraq asks us to leave sooner, then it will be time to leave.
####
The government of Iraq has asked us to leave, requested a timeline for our withdrawal, and required that any extension of our UN mandate be vetted through their parliament on at least three different occasions. There is not one political party within Iraq that supports our continual presence. But, on the other hand, their prime minister, as well as most ministry heads do not want us to leave, ever. As long as we pay for everything, they can continue stockpiling their money from oil revenue into worldwide banks. As long as we continue providing security for them, they don’t have to. And they can continue fudging the numbers of trained Iraqis in order to pay off relatives and friends.
As far as the electricity crises goes, this is not our problem. Iraq should start using their own money to cover these costs.
BTW, Voice of Reason, are you a vet? I may (strongly) disagree with your point of view, but I always welcome the conversation. :)
April 28th, 2008 at 3:31 pmThere are 12 powerstations in Baghdad. All of which are maintained by the US military. This is not our problem, and we need to turn these over to the Iraqis.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:33 pmChris L Says:
——————————————————————————–
There are 12 powerstations in Baghdad. All of which are maintained by the US military. This is not our problem, and we need to turn these over to the Iraqis.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Will that dramatically cxhange anything ?
April 28th, 2008 at 3:35 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
On the other hand, if the freely elected government of Iraq asks us to leave sooner, then it will be time to leave.
They have done that already. Maliki has said many times that they can handle things. Your problem is the dis-connect between what the Iraqis want and what KBR and Blackwater wants. Bush is listening to those who do not speak for the Iraqi people.
Your president said that the elections held in Iraq created a democratic structure the Iraqi people could count on. I hate to be the one to inform you, but your president lied. All those purple fingers went for naught, but again, that was the plan from the beginning. It’s all an illusion to rape a soverign nation. You must be proud.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:37 pmWe spent $10 Billion in contracts to reconstruct Iraq. Several power plants should have been constructed since this has been an ongoing problem. Not to mention looking into other alternative sources for supplying electricity.
This situation is something that should have been addressed years ago. Hydroelectric plants require dams of water, Iraq has two main rivers and the rest is a desert. During major droughts they should have other plants to compensate for this occurance.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:39 pmMCMetal Says:
Will that dramatically cxhange anything ?
####
They have tried it before and the net result was more electricity in the Shia neighborhoods - and none in the Sunni areas. My point however, is that this is not a service we need to be providing at this stage of the game. Providing electricity to Baghdad is a job that the Iraqis should be doing, not us, and not American contractors. I feel the same way about road construction. How are they supposed to generate a stable economy of we are taking all of the jobs? More importantly, what is their incentive to take responsibility if we are willing to do everything for them?
April 28th, 2008 at 3:43 pmChris L Says:
——————————————————————————–
MCMetal Says:
Will that dramatically cxhange anything ?
####
They have tried it before and the net result was more electricity in the Shia neighborhoods - and none in the Sunni areas. My point however, is that this is not a service we need to be providing at this stage of the game. Providing electricity to Baghdad is a job that the Iraqis should be doing, not us, and not American contractors. I feel the same way about road construction. How are they supposed to generate a stable economy of we are taking all of the jobs? More importantly, what is their incentive to take responsibility if we are willing to do everything for them?
April 28th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Ummmmmmm
We shouldn’t be there AT ALL …………..
April 28th, 2008 at 3:44 pmMay 9, 2007
“On Tuesday, without note in the U.S. media, more than half of the members of Iraq’s parliament rejected the continuing occupation of their country. 144 lawmakers signed onto a legislative petition calling on the United States to set a timetable for withdrawal”
April 28th, 2008 at 3:47 pmThats the thing: All this talk about re-building and stuff. It only requires re-building because we broke it. Ohhh, we are building schools! Great, we bombed them, shouldn’t we re-build them? Ohhh, look at the shiny new shopping mall: Well, we blew it up and killed scores of people shopping there; Maybe we should re-build it. Everything VOR speaks to as ‘progress’ is only progress because we blew it up or allowed it to be vandalized. That’s not progress, it is attempting to clean up our own mess.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pmAnother link as well
Oh, and another one.
“BAGHDAD — A majority of Iraq’s parliament has expressed support for a proposed bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels.”
Here’s even more.
And then there is this:
“According to this poll commissioned by the BBC, ABC and NHK to assess the effects of the US military’s surge strategy, 70 percent of Iraqis believe the strategy has made Iraq’s security situation worse. The poll finds 47 percent of Iraqis want US-led forces to leave Iraq immediately and 34 percent want the troops to leave when the security situation improves. The results of the survey indicate the surge has hampered conditions for political dialogue, reconstruction and economic development and has not improved security.”
April 28th, 2008 at 3:53 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
——————————————————————————–
At least two of you have claimed that the freely elected governemnt of Iraq has asked us to leave and we have refused, thus making this an “occupation.” Please provide credible links.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Please provide credible links as to the legality of Chimpy’s Idiotic Iraq Adventure 1st , Voice_Of_Treason
April 28th, 2008 at 3:55 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
Hey, you’re still here. I was beginning to think you had left. So, back to my question - are you a veteran? Where do you get your passion for wanting US troops to stay in Iraq? Most civilians I talk to couldn’t care less one way or the other, so it surprises me when I see someone so adamant about staying.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:56 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
——————————————————————————–
So, propose the bill, have a vote on it, and get the PM to sign it. Then we’ll have something to talk about. For now, it is just a “proposed bill” asking for a “timetable.”
April 28th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Please explain the purpose , legality and inital intelligence in proposing a “bill” that is to be signed by the PM of a sovereign nation whom we are not officially at “war” with ………
April 28th, 2008 at 3:57 pmI say VOR can pound sand. If he ever wiped Limbaugh’s skidmark off of his nose, he wuold have a clearer picture of current events. I think Joe Walsh said it best: “You Can’t Argue with a Sick Mind”. VOR likes the monarchy of George Bush. He prefers the comfort of being told what to do rather then the effort of figuring out what to do.
VOR: Go read for yourself and discover the truth for yourself. Don’t believe me or anyone else here at TP (or any blog). READ FOR YOURSELF. The country has made numerous decisions in your name. Wouldn’t you want to know what they did and why?
April 28th, 2008 at 3:58 pmSo, electricity demand is now the bench mark for “progress” in Iraq? Jebus, reich-wingers are desperate and pathetic.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:58 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
So, propose the bill, have a vote on it, and get the PM to sign it. Then we’ll have something to talk about. For now, it is just a “proposed bill” asking for a “timetable.”
#####
Ah, therein lies the rub. It has been voted on, even passed. However, the PM will never sign it because if he did, we would stop paying for everything. Maliki is no idiot. He knows that if we ever leave, they will actually have to take care of themselves. So, Voice Of Reason, when did you get home, or are you still deployed? If oyu are still in theater, let me know where, I have friends all over Anbar and Diyala.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:59 pmBut now that we are there, we should finish what we started and get all 18 provinces under Iraqi security control.
And I’ll throw in the first $100.00 for your plane fare to Bagdad. Anybody else want VOR to put his body where Bush’s war is? How about it, VOR. Are you going to fight your convictions or wimp out like your ‘leaders’?
April 28th, 2008 at 4:01 pmThere is no “finish”. Can’t you get that straight through your myopic mentality? Herr dubyah attacked and occupied Iraq because of “WMD” and Saddam’s [non] threat to the US. Neither existed, hence there is no finish to want herr dubyah started. There is only more lies from reich-wingers as why we should stay and spend US dollars and blood for the sake of the reich-wing GOPigs.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:02 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
44. I’m not adamant about staying. Unlike Hillary Clinton, I wasn’t a strong supporter of us going there to begin with. But now that we are there, we should finish what we started and get all 18 provinces under Iraqi security control.
#####
That will never happen. For one, they just don’t have the incentive, as long as we are doing it for them. For two, most Iraqi security forces are Badr Corps. They are Shia, very pro-Iran, and mainly looking for some payback on the Sunnis after 35 years of oppression. I helped train a lot of them at Dogwood in 2003/2004. Also, most of the poorer Shia neighborhoods do not trust the Iraqi police and military. Many of them are from Jaish Al Mahdi and Fadhilla. They were once part of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (the political arm of Badr), and after leaving they are fearful of retaliation.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
——————————————————————————–
44. I’m not adamant about staying. Unlike Hillary Clinton, I wasn’t a strong supporter of us going there to begin with. But now that we are there, we should finish what we started and get all 18 provinces under Iraqi security control.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Initial reasons for invading Iraq :
The objectives of the invasion, according to U.S. President George W. Bush and U.K. former PM Tony Blair were “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.”
There were never any WMD’s , Saddam is dead , and the Iraqi people are now “free” to choose what to do next ; time to leave…………
April 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pmWe’re not here to justify our knowledge to you. You are just as capable of finding the facts as anyone here, problem is you are not interested in the facts.
On a different note….with de-regulation setting in I’m thinking we might be a little concered that the same thing might happen to us again…..republicans are piss poor managers…..
April 28th, 2008 at 4:30 pmAnd for planning purposes, could we have planned for this. That is, could we have forseen that the temperature would go up every summer ?
April 28th, 2008 at 4:51 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
It was a waste of lives and money. Your idiot leaders got us into it by lying. The only justification for invading Iraq was WMD. Your feckless leaders could not have made this happen without lying. We would never have went in just to remove Sadam…..try again.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:01 pmSure you want to stick with this bullcrap? We (USA)are not even able to prevent regular attacks on the “Green Zone”
I’m done with you until you start making some sense and talking about the real world instead of your imagined utopia in Iraq.
April 28th, 2008 at 5:07 pmVoice_of_Reason Says:
Great strides have been made in that they are in control of 10 out of 18 for now
####
So we should be able to bring home half of our troops then? Less than half - maybe a quarter? Or at least be able to give them some dwell time between deployments? I mean, if the Iraqis are standing up, shouldn’t we be able to stand down? When did you get home?
April 28th, 2008 at 5:15 pmVOR has gone off the deep end. No turning back. He believes the people who lie to him. No amount of ‘reason’ will make him question his “leaders”. Just a quick bit of info for you: In America, we elect REPRESENTATIVES. Ya know, they work for us. In your world, you want Leaders - folks whom you work for. That is a pretty big difference, no?
April 28th, 2008 at 5:33 pmVoice of treason is an idiot, a coward, and should leave our country as he/she is truly a traitor.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:19 pmWe elect Representatives who are supposed to lead, not Representatives that blindly wet their finger, stick it in the air and vote which ever way the wind blows.
But when a president is appointed instead of elected, it matters little - as the last eight years have shown. He’ll do whatever he damn well pleases ’cause he knowns the Supreme Court’s conservative majority will rubberstamp any presidential powergrab.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:24 am