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I was a Marine in Iraq from 06-09. We constantly built plans for the inevitable demise of this dam. Mostly just estimates of how screwed people would be. I'm
by jamesfe 11y ago
I was a Marine in Iraq from 06-09. We constantly built plans for the inevitable demise of this dam. Mostly just estimates of how screwed people would be.
I'm surprised it's not blown yet, I was constantly worried someone would bomb it somehow, but 7 years later, it's still standing, so I'm unsure about any estimates given now - the Iraqis were fairly liberal in their estimates in 2006 (it'll fall by 2007) and the same predictions followed every year. Of course, they wanted vast quantities of money to fix it (and skim off the top for themselves) so there was some bias.
Check out the Haditha Dam too. Another large body of water held back by aging infrastructure further destroyed by looters who dismantled huge pieces of machinery to sell as scrap for $0.05/lb.
- jksmith 11y agoSurprised that some big infrastructure company like Halli or Bechtel didn't see an opportunity to scheme some business from this.
- raisedbyninjas 11y agoRebuilding Mosul is more lucrative that maintenance on Mosul dam?
- jksmith 11y agoIndeed! Good thinking. Rebuild dam and city. Funded by US loans of course.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- samstave 11y agoThat's the business model of the IMF. Would you prefer to be paved in gold or bombs?
- noonespecial 11y agoFun fact: The gold is almost certainly cheaper in the long run.
- dopamean 11y agoWith the added benefit of being a "hero" when they go in to rebuild in such a dangerous area.
- WalterSear 11y agoAnd 'hero' pay, no doubt.
- kafkaesq 11y agoLook at the upside - when it blows they can always rent bulldozers to bury all the bodies.
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoSome of those guys were severely burned by the Iraqi Adventure. SFAIK, Halli divested of Brown-Root. Big Engineering like that might as well be politics. And this makes me think of the St. Francis Dam. "It's Chinatown, Jake."
- kough 11y agoI watched that movie while coming down (ok, failing to come down) from my first acid trip. Not the right choice. Great movie though.
- samstave 11y agoThat was a funny and unexpected comment... What movie are you talking about?
- turkishrevenge 11y agoI'm guessing "Chinatown"
- ArkyBeagle 11y agoYou are correct, sir.
- samstave 11y agoI'm positive they likely have. Don't forget the fact that Feinstein's husband was head of a doc at Bechtel Corp and she was on the Military construction Appropriations committee, they funneled a lot of money through that incestuous relationship. She left that committee in 2008, which was plenty of time for graft.
- tdyen 11y agoWhy didn't the failsafe dam get built? It's a perfect big infrastructure project for IMF types to fund?
- gambiting 11y agoThe work on the failsafe dam has actually started a few years ago but it got only 40% finished due to political tensions. It's not done and it wouldn't be able to hold anything as it currently is.