by Giles Fraser, The Guardian
This is BIG. Even if the dam does not break with the spring rains, the very possibility – and the dire warnings by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad — speak to the question of how, under the first George Bush, U.S. forces DELIBERATLY destroyed civilian infrastructure in Iraq; and how, under Bush II, forces were unleashed that made it impossible to take action to stave off what seems in the offing – destruction of Biblical proportions.
Last week those in charge of the glittering new $750 million US embassy in Baghdad warned that the risk of the dam failing is “serious and unprecedented.” There is no sign that riverboats were included in the funding for the new embassy. Will Halliburton win the contract to rush boats to the Green Zone to supplement the evacuation helicopters already on standby?
The experts predict the dam is going to break and the floods are coming; it is just a question of when.
Comment: If catastrophe strikes in the next month or two, it would behoove presidential candidates to be on record in warning about the danger. Some might even point to which country – and which Senators – bear a HUJE portion of responsibility. Imagine living in Mosul, or even downstream in Baghdad, under that kind of threat – with anxiety that must be orders of magnitude deeper than what comes from living on the fault in California.
Hillary Clinton, Tigress of the Tigris, may just reap what she and others have sown in voting to attack Iraq.
As for Trump, who – as is well known – is hujely great at making good deals: There is a rumor (just started here) that his “people” are selling premium flood insurance to oil companies in Iraq at exorbitant rates; and that his lawyers have already drafted the Trump bankruptcy filing for when the dam breaks.