BBC: Iraq's power struggle as supplies falter

[deadparrot]

Speak to any Iraqi and they will tell you their standard of living has not improved since the toppling of Saddam Hussein two years ago.

Many will tell you it has got worse.

The power supply is still off more than it is on. Water is intermittent. The queues for petrol stretch round the block. Jobs are hard to find.

And all despite the billions of dollars budgeted for reconstruction.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4618359.stm

[burrowowl]

1. Well

the U$ of A declared that U$ of A contractors and U$ of A electritcity instead of 220 V 50 Hz the following 110 V 60 Hz had to be used, Iraq is on the former, as is Europe and others.
It is going to be a long long long time before things get where they were pre-illegal war on Iraq.

[pnorman]

2. As far as I know, most of the world is 220/240 volts and 50Hz.

USA almost alone, is 110/120 volts and 60HZ. What's the basis for your above statement? changing long established electrical standards, sounds far too bone-headed even by Bushian benchmarks. Frankly, I have a hard time believing that.

pnorman

[daleo]

4. I do recall an article that mentioned rewiring all of Baghdad's houses

It was just in passing, in another story about electrical distribution. I assumed it was a mis-quote or typo, but who knows? Making Iraq conform to U.S. electrical specifications is about stupid enough (and a sufficient display of colonial arrogance) to attribute to Bush.

On edit - All the google articles I can find using the search terms "Iraq, electical wiring, and 100 volt" refer to torture at Abu Graihb. They were using 110 volts there, anyway.

[pnorman]

5. That may have referred to hand-cranked magnetos,

a staple of professional torturers for many years. Rarely does that result in death or even permanent injury. House current is a different matter. It goes without saying, that unexpected deaths could be "embarrassing", and to be avoided like the plague.

But the rest is just plain fantastic. Just changing the frequency let alone the voltage, in an already industrialized nation, boggles the mind.

pnorman

[magellan]

3. That's because those reconstruction $$$$ are going straight into the

...pockets of Iraq's Vichy government, which is comprised of thieves and liars who live in relative luxury and security in the Green Zone.

Oh, and the contractors and middle men get their cut too, of course.

[LynnTheDem]

6. "Iraqis Endure Worse Conditions Than Under Saddam"

http://www.health-now.org/site/article.php?menuId=14&articleId=446

And the really hilariously ironic part is that under Hussein, Iraqis restored their powergrid 6 weeks after Iraq had the living crap bombed out of it by the US & UK in 1991...yet the world's first & only "hyper-power" can't even match Hussein's wattage going on THREE YEARS later.