Common Iraqi lament: "Maku kahrabaa" — there's no electricity

By T. Christian Miller
Los Angeles Times

KHOR ZUBAIR, Iraq — When the United States fires up the last generator at this remote power plant this week, it will mark the conclusion of one of the most frustrating episodes in the effort to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure.

A pile of gray metal swarming with construction workers in the deserts of southern Iraq, the Khor Zubair generating station is the final power plant being built under Washington's ill-fated $4 billion attempt to restore Iraq's electrical supply to its prewar level.

The massive U.S. effort will leave behind this legacy: Iraqis actually will have, on average, fewer hours per day of electricity in their homes than they did before the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.

"The money was not effective," said Muhsin Shalash, Iraq's minister of electricity. "The contracting was wrong. The whole planning was wrong. ... It's a big problem."

U.S. officials have blamed insurgent attacks, unchecked demand and the poor conditions of Iraq's power plants for hobbling the bid to restore electricity. But interviews with dozens of U.S. and Iraqi officials reveal that poor decisions by the United States also played a significant role.

Perhaps most serious was the decision to expand a program begun under Saddam Hussein to install dozens of natural-gas-fired electrical generators



Keith’s Barbeque Central

with the money that was meant to "rebuild" Iraq. Those same corrupt bastards probably gave some of that money to Bush during the last election....

This war is a travesty and a way to defraud both our nation and the people of Iraq.