Reconstruction efforts in Iraq proceed apace

The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials.

Even in a country gripped by daily bloodshed, the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam has alarmed American officials, who have concluded that it could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet, said Abdulkhalik Thanoon Ayoub, the dam manager. "The Mosul dam is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability," in the dry wording of an Army Corps of Engineers draft report.

At the same time, a U.S. reconstruction project to help shore up the dam in northern Iraq has been marred by incompetence and mismanagement, according to Iraqi officials and a report by a U.S. oversight agency to be released Tuesday. The reconstruction project, worth at least $27 million, was not intended to be a permanent solution to the dam's deficiencies.

The rest following the click ...

My comment:

Potentially 500,000 civilian deaths? Added to the 650,000 already in the ground? And you think they hate us for our freedoms?

Population
US - 301,139,947 (July 2007 Estimate)
Iraq - 27,499,638 (2007 Estimate)

Assuming there's any reality to the 650,000 reported above and another 500,000 potential deaths as a result of this huge infrastructure collapse; that's 1,150,000 deaths or 4% of the total population of the country.

For there to be an equivalent disaster here in the US, we'd be looking at over 12,000,000 people dead. I wonder how we'd feel if someone came to this country, stayed for 4+ years and left 12 Million bodies in their wake?

It's the dictionary definition of a total "clusterfuck"!

clusterfuck

Military term for an operation in which multiple things have gone wrong. Related to "SNAFU" (Situation Normal, All Fucked Up") and "FUBAR" (Fucked Up Beyond All Repair -or- Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition).

In radio communication or polite conversation (i.e. with a very senior officer with whom you have no prior experience) the term "clusterfuck" will often be replaced by the NATO phonetic acronym "Charlie Foxtrot."

As in: "By the time the artillery came in the enemy was already on top of us. It was a total clusterfuck."

So, how do you say "Katrina" in Arabic?