Article

2014-08-19 Iraq

Iraq Says It Seizes Mosul Dam; Militants Deny It

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Posted by trailing wife 2014-08-19 00:00|| || Front Page|| [7 views ] Top
File under: Islamic State

#1 Praise be to brothers George W Bush and Tony Blair for sacrificing the sons of their countries to bring about the Caliphate!

There can be no better man to act as Middle East Peace Envoy than Tony Blair - few years in the job and the Middle East is more peaceful than its ever been.

Posted by 72virgins 2014-08-19 06:49|| 2014-08-19 06:49|| Front Page Top

#2 You're about seven years off, mate.

Posted by Pappy 2014-08-19 07:41|| 2014-08-19 07:41|| Front Page Top

#3 72 sturgeons

Posted by Frank G 2014-08-19 08:09|| 2014-08-19 08:09|| Front Page Top

#4 ARRRGGGGHH!! Pet peeve number 96,482; these are not militants they are a Barbarian hoarde following an ancient death cult.

Posted by AlanC 2014-08-19 08:41|| 2014-08-19 08:41|| Front Page Top

#5 A good example, the fog of war.

Posted by mossomo 2014-08-19 12:36|| 2014-08-19 12:36|| Front Page Top

#6 If read it at Rantburg, it must be true!

Posted by Bobby 2014-08-19 14:04|| 2014-08-19 14:04|| Front Page Top

#7 Interesting article about the architectural mess that is the Mosul dam:

Scene of fighting, grandiose Mosul dam always beset with problems

DUBAI, Aug 19 (Reuters) - The Mosul Dam was always meant to be a symbol of Iraq's grandiose ambition to escape poverty and underdevelopment.

But from the start, the $1.5 billion barrier north of the city was beset with significant engineering problems, now made worse after it became the centre of a battle between Islamist insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Despite its structural faults, the country's biggest dam at 3.6 km long, built by a German-Italian consortium in the 1980s, is a vital water and power source for Mosul, Iraq's largest northern city of 1.7 million residents...While Iraqi and Kurdish forces recaptured the dam with the help of U.S. air strikes on Monday, "the most dangerous dam in the world" - as a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report described it - still has the potential for catastrophe.

The bleakest scenario foresees a complete breach that could unleash a tidal wave that would submerge Mosul under 25-30 metres of water and kill up to half a million people. Baghdad could be under 5 metres of water...The dam, about 45-50 km north of Mosul, was built on the wrong kind of geological foundation, which included gypsum - a soft substance which is the main element in plaster and not solid enough to handle the weight of the dam.

A person who worked with German firm Hochtief, the lead firm involved in the construction in the 1980s, said: "Inside Hochtief, it was seen as the group's worst construction site ever."

"Geologically, gypsum does not count as rock. It's sediment, as soft as butter. In physical terms, it's a viscous liquid. The whole soil is like Swiss cheese," the person, who declined to be named, told Reuters in Frankfurt.

To combat this and to ensure the dam doesn't give way, it needs round-the-clock grouting - a process where spaces that form in the foundations are filled with concrete.

Richard Coffman, an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Arkansas who has conducted extensive research on the dam, says grouting normally takes place six days a week, 24 hours a day...Salar Ismael, a construction engineer who is part of the grouting team, said that grouting had stopped three days ago.

"The dam definitely requires almost daily grouting to make sure the foundation stays intact and stable," said Ismael who left the dam on Sunday, fearing for his life.

He said security forces had urged engineers to resume grouting, but they refused unless "the situation gets better and our safety is totally guaranteed"..."A second week of no grouting work will jeopardise the dam and force it to buckle under water pressure," said Ismael, who added that the cement they use is of bad quality.

Iraqi engineering geological expert Whael Matti put it starkly: "If no urgent maintenance and overall rehabilitation work is started soon, dam failure will be inevitable."

After the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, U.S. army engineers visited the site to make recommendations on its improvement.

They drilled thousands of holes and then pumped concrete slurry under pressure to fill the fractures...John H Hollis IV, a senior security adviser, accompanied the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Kurdish and Iraqi government officials to the dam more than 10 times between 2004 and 2006 to conduct operations on stabilising the dam.

"It's an extremely large area and it's a very difficult area to secure because of the nature of the geographical layout," he told Reuters in Dubai.

He said Islamic State militants were able to easily overrun the area because there wasn't proper protection. A large, permanent military presence with air surveillance was needed to guarantee its security, otherwise: "You can expect the same thing to happen again ... when they think it's the right time to attack, they'll attack again."

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-08-19 22:39|| 2014-08-19 22:39|| Front Page Top

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