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Largest Iraqi dam in danger of collapse; could kill 500k people

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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.

LINK

Saddam may have built it, but America will get virtually all the blame if it collapses and kills half a million people.

And AQI just got their next target...
 

bob_arctor

Tough_Smooth
siamesedreamer said:
LINK

Saddam may have built it, but America will get virtually all the blame if it collapses and kills half a million people.


That's what happens when you invade and occupy a country for no fucking reason.
 

border

Member
I'm pretty sure the Army Corps of Engineers is capable of handling a simple dam and preventing flooding!
 

E-phonk

Banned
This sounds like a good time for US troops to retreat.

"Sorry folks, we gotta go - see you in ten year when we do our next invasion!"
 

fallout

Member
siamesedreamer said:
Saddam may have built it, but America will get virtually all the blame if it collapses and kills half a million people.
Gee, I wonder how it could have ever come to that. They must hate your freedom and democracy or something.
 
Questions on my mind:

- Why is this only NOW coming to the attention? Did no one inspect that damn dam for years or what? Dams don't become "on the verge of collapse" in a matter of days!

- How did it come to this? Did they just not do any sort of maintenance on it?
 
AtomicShroom said:
Questions on my mind:

- Why is this only NOW coming to the attention? Did no one inspect that damn dam for years or what? Dams don't become "on the verge of collapse" in a matter of days!

- How did it come to this? Did they just not do any sort of maintenance on it?
Probably due to the country being a warzone for more than 4 years now.
 

smurfx

get some go again
APF said:
Good thing oil and water don't mix.
well done. :lol can't wait for the U.S to spend millions fixing this dam and then all the people from new orleans going nuts that the government totally ignored the Levees.
 

Shig

Strap on your hooker ...
border said:
I'm pretty sure the Army Corps of Engineers is capable of handling a simple dam and preventing flooding!
Worked great for the New Orleans levees.

edit: dammit everyone is 15 seconds faster than me on the reply button today.
 

ToxicAdam

Member
border said:
I'm pretty sure the Army Corps of Engineers is capable of handling a simple dam and preventing flooding!


flooding2-787714.jpg
 

avatar299

Banned
Ok, lets be honest, If we didn't invade Iraq and this dam broke, kiling people etc etc...would anyone here really give a damn?
 

SUPREME1

Banned
Jon_Danger said:
DAMN THOSE SHARKS! DESTROYING DAMS!


Beat me to it..

Though, if they hadn't been talking sh*t about our sharks w/ lasers.. we would have gladly let them borrow our army of beavers to fix their dam.

Tough nutz iwaqis!
 

[Nintex]

Member
They should ask the dutch for help, currently we're helping the US to do build a dam of some sort near New Orleans.
 

SUPREME1

Banned
[Nintex] said:
They should ask the dutch for help, currently we're helping the US to do build a dam of some sort near New Orleans.


Chocolate dam?

Mmmm..


Edit: I should've thrown in a 'chcolate city' reference in there. Gold I tell ya!
 

Eric P

Member
if it weren't for that damned don't ask don't tell

we could easily find dykes in the case of an emergency then!
 

Slurpy

*drowns in jizz*
siamesedreamer said:
LINK

Saddam may have built it, but America will get virtually all the blame if it collapses and kills half a million people.

And AQI just got their next target...

Oh hey there Siamese. Its nice to see that instead of commenting concern over those potential half a million deaths, your only worry is the potential blame America will get if that horrendous scenario does occur. What a mind-numbing twat you are, but par for the course for you.
 
avatar299 said:
Ok, lets be honest, If we didn't invade Iraq and this dam broke, kiling people etc etc...would anyone here really give a damn?

Let's be honest, most Americans don't care anyway. This is the country where 3,000 deaths on 9/11 was called, "the worst thing that's happened since WWII."
 

D3MO

Banned
Somehow I think that DAM will collapse, and be blamed on the TERRORISTS, and the US will have to declare war on DAMS, and have to fight DAMS in IRAQ before fighting their own DAMS at HOME.
 
Slurpy said:
Oh hey there Siamese. Its nice to see that instead of commenting concern over those potential half a million deaths, your only worry is the potential blame America will get if that horrendous scenario does occur. What a mind-numbing twat you are, but par for the course for you.

How do you know he doesn't care about their lives?
 

Slurpy

*drowns in jizz*
RiskyChris said:
How do you know he doesn't care about their lives?

Do you have reading comprehension issues? I pointing to the factt that the only thing that he commented on, and thus the only reason he had the urge to make the topic, is to comment over his concern for America being wrongfully blamed if this happens.

Beyond that, if you've read any of this past posts, you would be agreeing with me.
 

Gaborn

Member
In many ways it's probably the best possible news that we know about this BEFORE something happens. That probably means we're going to try to take preventative steps. If, say 2 months from now the dam breaks THEN I'll be the first one screaming about the incompetent US government. But right now? I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. As much as this could be a problem I'm not going to criticize them for a dam that MIGHT break UNTIL it breaks.
 

Chumly

Member
AtomicShroom said:
Questions on my mind:

- Why is this only NOW coming to the attention? Did no one inspect that damn dam for years or what? Dams don't become "on the verge of collapse" in a matter of days!

- How did it come to this? Did they just not do any sort of maintenance on it?
Its because Iraqi engineers think the dam is just fine and doesnt need to be fixed and the US engineers think it has an unacceptable failure rate. So basically ironically if the US wouldnt have invaded Iraq it would have never come to our attention unless it failed.

The fundamental problem is the dam was built on Gypsum which FUCKING DISSOLVES when it comes in to contact with water. Whoever thought that was a good idea is pretty dumb. Sinkholes appear daily do to the Gypsum dissolving and theres fairly major seepage also. Currently they run pumps 24 hours a day to pump grout (cement mixture) deep below to the base to try and prevent it from collapsing. But the Iraq officials still believe the dam is safe and theres nothing to worry about but the US thinks otherwise.
 
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