Iraqi man regrets toppling statue of Saddam Hussein
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BotanyBoy
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What's WUM? Is that another racial slur?
In the adult world when you resort to name calling and racial slurs to support your position that's called a temper tantrum.
geronimo_appleby
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aw, mate, don't be too hard on yourself.
underguy1
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What's WUM? Is that another racial slur?
In the adult world when you resort to name calling and racial slurs to support your position that's called a temper tantrum.
May a diseased camel disgrace itself on your new Gucci sweater.
underguy1
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Take heed, O thou discourager of the brethren, for you will be trampled by a herd of stampeding pigs!
underguy1
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From Churchill to Blair: How British Leaders Have Destroyed Iraq for Over a Century
by GARIKAI CHENGU
After seven years, the Chilcot report has delivered a damning verdict on Tony Blair’s role in the war on Iraq, but British Prime Ministers playing a destructive role in Iraq is a centuries old practice.
Britain has used its military might and commercial prowess to subjugate Iraq and control its oil resources for over one hundred years.
Churchill invented Iraq. The end of World War I left Britain and France in command of the Middle East and the allies carved up the region as the defeated Ottoman Empire fell apart. Winston Churchill convened the 1912 Conference in Cairo to determine the boundaries of the British Middle Eastern mandate. After giving Jordan to Prince Abdullah, Churchill, gave Prince Abdullah’s brother Faisal an arbitrary patch of desert that became Iraq.
Historian Michael R. Burch recalls how the huge zigzag in Jordan’s eastern border with Saudi Arabia has been called “Winston’s Hiccup” or “Churchill’s Sneeze” because Churchill carelessly drew the expansive boundary after a generous lunch.
Churchill’s imperial foreign policy has caused a century of instability in Iraq by arbitrarily locking together three warring ethnic groups that have been bleeding heavily ever since. In Iraq, Churchill bundled together the three Ottoman vilayets of Basra that was predominantly Shiite, Baghdad that was Sunni, and Mosul that was mainly Kurd.
Britain set up a colonial regime in Iraq. British oppression in Iraq intensified and an uprising in May 1920 united Sunni and Shia against the British. Winston Churchill, the responsible cabinet minister, took almost a decade to brutally quash the uprising leaving 9,000 Iraqis dead.
Churchill ordered punitive village burning expeditions and air attacks to shock and awe the population. The British air force bombed not only military targets but civilian areas as well. British government policy was to kill and wound women and children so as to intimidate the population into submission.
Churchill also authorized the use of chemical weapons on innocent Iraqis.
In 1919 Churchill remarked, “I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes… It will cause great inconvenience and spread a lively terror”.
Churchill, saw Iraq as an experiment in aerial technological colonial control as a cheaper way to patrol the over-extended empire. Almost one hundred years since Churchill sought the use of aerial technology to cling onto influence over a restive Iraq, Blair’s government began flying deadly drones over Baghdad and Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
To Britain’s imperial Prime Ministers, aviation has always promised to be the trump card, the guaranteed way of keeping native peoples and their resources under control. Arthur “Bomber” Harris, who was to lead the aerial bombardment of Germany 20 years after bombing Iraq, boasted that he had taught Iraqis “that within 45 minutes a full-sized village can be practically wiped out and a third of its inhabitants killed or wounded”.
The British Royal Air Force maintained its military control over Iraq until World War II, even after Iraqi independence in 1932. Despite formal independence, British political and economic influence in Iraq barely receded.
Britain’s relationship with Iraq has always revolved around the issue of oil. Churchill viewed Iraq as an important gateway to Britain’s Indian colony and oil as the lifeblood for Britain’s Imperial Navy.
Britain established the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) as the vehicle through which Iraqi oil would be exploited. British Petroleum (BP), or the Anglo-Persian Oil Company as it was known back then, was also heavily involved in plundering Iraqi oil.
British oilmen benefited incalculably from Iraq’s puppet regime until the Iraqi masses rose up against British influence. This led to the Iraq revolution of 1958 and the rise and eventual Presidency of Saddam Hussein.
British and US intelligence helped Saddam’s Ba`ath Party seize power for the first time in 1963. Ample new evidence shows that Saddam was on the CIA payroll as early as 1959, when he was part of a failed assassination attempt against Iraqi leader Abd al-Karim Qassem. During the 1980s, the United States and Britain backed Saddam in the war against Iran, providing Iraq with weapons, funding, intelligence, and even biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction.
In 2003 the Guardian reported that a chemical plant, which the United States said was a key component in Iraq’s chemical warfare arsenal, was secretly built by Britain in 1985 behind the backs of the Americans. Documents show British ministers knew at the time that the $14 million dollar British taxpayer funded plant, called Falluja 2, was likely to be used for mustard and nerve gas production.
British relations with Saddam Hussein only began to sour when Hussein nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company in 1972. As a result of Iraq’s oil revenues finally flowing directly into the Iraqi Treasury, the nation experienced a massive windfall when oil prices quadrupled in 1973.
The Iraqi nation grew increasingly wealthy, as oil revenues rose from $500 million in 1972 to over $26 billion in 1980, an increase of almost 50 times in nominal terms.
During the 1990’s, Britain supported severe economic sanctions against Iraq because of Saddam’s increasing resource nationalism. The United Nations estimated that 1.7 million Iraqis died as a result of the sanctions. Five hundred thousand of these victims were children.
The British and American sanctions on Iraq killed more civilians than the entirety of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons used in human history.
Glaring similarities between Britain’s 1917 occupation of Iraq and the modern military debacle in Iraq are too salient to dismiss or to ignore.
They told us that Iraq was a nuclear threat; Iraq was a terrorist state; Iraq was tied to Al Qaeda. It all amounted to nothing. Since the 2003 invasion, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died and over a million have been displaced because of this lie.
Prior to 2003, Iraq had zero recorded suicide bombings. Since 2003, over a thousand suicide bombs have killed 12,000 innocent Iraqis.
Tony Blair recently admitted to CNN that the 2003 invasion of Iraq played a part in the rise of the Islamic State militant group, and apologized for some mistakes in planning the war.
It is important to note that Al Qaeda in Iraq did not exist prior to the British-American invasion and that terror organization eventually became ISIS.
Former British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, told the House of Commons that Al Qaeda was unquestionably a product of Western intelligence agencies. Mr. Cook explained that Al Qaeda, which literally means an abbreviation of “the database” in Arabic, was originally an American computer database of the thousands of Islamist extremists, who were trained by the CIA and funded by the Saudis, in order to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan.
Blair’s legacy in Iraq is ISIS. Blair has recently called ISIS the “greatest threat” faced by Britain.
Shortly after British general Stanley Maude’s troops captured Baghdad in 1917, he announced, “our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.”
Almost a century later in 2003 Tony Blair said, “Our forces are friends and liberators of the Iraqi people, not your conquerors. They will not stay a day longer than is necessary”.
History has a habit of repeating itself, albeit with slightly different characters and different nuances. Iraq may well go down in history as Britain’s greatest longstanding foreign policy failure.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07...aders-have-destroyed-iraq-for-over-a-century/
by GARIKAI CHENGU
After seven years, the Chilcot report has delivered a damning verdict on Tony Blair’s role in the war on Iraq, but British Prime Ministers playing a destructive role in Iraq is a centuries old practice.
Britain has used its military might and commercial prowess to subjugate Iraq and control its oil resources for over one hundred years.
Churchill invented Iraq. The end of World War I left Britain and France in command of the Middle East and the allies carved up the region as the defeated Ottoman Empire fell apart. Winston Churchill convened the 1912 Conference in Cairo to determine the boundaries of the British Middle Eastern mandate. After giving Jordan to Prince Abdullah, Churchill, gave Prince Abdullah’s brother Faisal an arbitrary patch of desert that became Iraq.
Historian Michael R. Burch recalls how the huge zigzag in Jordan’s eastern border with Saudi Arabia has been called “Winston’s Hiccup” or “Churchill’s Sneeze” because Churchill carelessly drew the expansive boundary after a generous lunch.
Churchill’s imperial foreign policy has caused a century of instability in Iraq by arbitrarily locking together three warring ethnic groups that have been bleeding heavily ever since. In Iraq, Churchill bundled together the three Ottoman vilayets of Basra that was predominantly Shiite, Baghdad that was Sunni, and Mosul that was mainly Kurd.
Britain set up a colonial regime in Iraq. British oppression in Iraq intensified and an uprising in May 1920 united Sunni and Shia against the British. Winston Churchill, the responsible cabinet minister, took almost a decade to brutally quash the uprising leaving 9,000 Iraqis dead.
Churchill ordered punitive village burning expeditions and air attacks to shock and awe the population. The British air force bombed not only military targets but civilian areas as well. British government policy was to kill and wound women and children so as to intimidate the population into submission.
Churchill also authorized the use of chemical weapons on innocent Iraqis.
In 1919 Churchill remarked, “I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes… It will cause great inconvenience and spread a lively terror”.
Churchill, saw Iraq as an experiment in aerial technological colonial control as a cheaper way to patrol the over-extended empire. Almost one hundred years since Churchill sought the use of aerial technology to cling onto influence over a restive Iraq, Blair’s government began flying deadly drones over Baghdad and Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
To Britain’s imperial Prime Ministers, aviation has always promised to be the trump card, the guaranteed way of keeping native peoples and their resources under control. Arthur “Bomber” Harris, who was to lead the aerial bombardment of Germany 20 years after bombing Iraq, boasted that he had taught Iraqis “that within 45 minutes a full-sized village can be practically wiped out and a third of its inhabitants killed or wounded”.
The British Royal Air Force maintained its military control over Iraq until World War II, even after Iraqi independence in 1932. Despite formal independence, British political and economic influence in Iraq barely receded.
Britain’s relationship with Iraq has always revolved around the issue of oil. Churchill viewed Iraq as an important gateway to Britain’s Indian colony and oil as the lifeblood for Britain’s Imperial Navy.
Britain established the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) as the vehicle through which Iraqi oil would be exploited. British Petroleum (BP), or the Anglo-Persian Oil Company as it was known back then, was also heavily involved in plundering Iraqi oil.
British oilmen benefited incalculably from Iraq’s puppet regime until the Iraqi masses rose up against British influence. This led to the Iraq revolution of 1958 and the rise and eventual Presidency of Saddam Hussein.
British and US intelligence helped Saddam’s Ba`ath Party seize power for the first time in 1963. Ample new evidence shows that Saddam was on the CIA payroll as early as 1959, when he was part of a failed assassination attempt against Iraqi leader Abd al-Karim Qassem. During the 1980s, the United States and Britain backed Saddam in the war against Iran, providing Iraq with weapons, funding, intelligence, and even biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction.
In 2003 the Guardian reported that a chemical plant, which the United States said was a key component in Iraq’s chemical warfare arsenal, was secretly built by Britain in 1985 behind the backs of the Americans. Documents show British ministers knew at the time that the $14 million dollar British taxpayer funded plant, called Falluja 2, was likely to be used for mustard and nerve gas production.
British relations with Saddam Hussein only began to sour when Hussein nationalized the Iraq Petroleum Company in 1972. As a result of Iraq’s oil revenues finally flowing directly into the Iraqi Treasury, the nation experienced a massive windfall when oil prices quadrupled in 1973.
The Iraqi nation grew increasingly wealthy, as oil revenues rose from $500 million in 1972 to over $26 billion in 1980, an increase of almost 50 times in nominal terms.
During the 1990’s, Britain supported severe economic sanctions against Iraq because of Saddam’s increasing resource nationalism. The United Nations estimated that 1.7 million Iraqis died as a result of the sanctions. Five hundred thousand of these victims were children.
The British and American sanctions on Iraq killed more civilians than the entirety of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons used in human history.
Glaring similarities between Britain’s 1917 occupation of Iraq and the modern military debacle in Iraq are too salient to dismiss or to ignore.
They told us that Iraq was a nuclear threat; Iraq was a terrorist state; Iraq was tied to Al Qaeda. It all amounted to nothing. Since the 2003 invasion, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died and over a million have been displaced because of this lie.
Prior to 2003, Iraq had zero recorded suicide bombings. Since 2003, over a thousand suicide bombs have killed 12,000 innocent Iraqis.
Tony Blair recently admitted to CNN that the 2003 invasion of Iraq played a part in the rise of the Islamic State militant group, and apologized for some mistakes in planning the war.
It is important to note that Al Qaeda in Iraq did not exist prior to the British-American invasion and that terror organization eventually became ISIS.
Former British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, told the House of Commons that Al Qaeda was unquestionably a product of Western intelligence agencies. Mr. Cook explained that Al Qaeda, which literally means an abbreviation of “the database” in Arabic, was originally an American computer database of the thousands of Islamist extremists, who were trained by the CIA and funded by the Saudis, in order to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan.
Blair’s legacy in Iraq is ISIS. Blair has recently called ISIS the “greatest threat” faced by Britain.
Shortly after British general Stanley Maude’s troops captured Baghdad in 1917, he announced, “our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.”
Almost a century later in 2003 Tony Blair said, “Our forces are friends and liberators of the Iraqi people, not your conquerors. They will not stay a day longer than is necessary”.
History has a habit of repeating itself, albeit with slightly different characters and different nuances. Iraq may well go down in history as Britain’s greatest longstanding foreign policy failure.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07...aders-have-destroyed-iraq-for-over-a-century/
L1tTleD1fferent
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BotanyBoy
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L1tTleD1fferent
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1] See no mention of food (though your post makes me laugh @ idea of problems feeding/eating due to teeth issues/lack of teeth).
2] "... genocide is (never) laughable."
underguy1
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What Is Genocide?
By Gregory H. Stanton, President, Genocide Watch
The crime of genocide is defined in international law in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.
The Genocide Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951. More than 130 nations have ratified the Genocide Convention and over 70 nations have made provisions for the punishment of genocide in domestic criminal law. The text of Article II of the Genocide Convention was included as a crime in Article 6 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Punishable Acts
The following are genocidal acts when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group's existence:
Killing members of the group includes direct killing and actions causing death.
Causing serious bodily or mental harm includes inflicting trauma on members of the group through widespread torture, rape, sexual violence, forced or coerced use of drugs, and mutilation.
Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group's physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services. Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.
Prevention of births includes involuntary sterilization, forced abortion, prohibition of marriage, and long-term separation of men and women intended to prevent procreation.
Forcible transfer of children may be imposed by direct force or by through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under the age of 14 years.
Genocidal acts need not kill or cause the death of members of a group. Causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevention of births and transfer of children are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group's existence:
It is a crime to plan or incite genocide, even before killing starts, and to aid or abet genocide: Criminal acts include conspiracy, direct and public incitement, attempts to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide.
Key Terms
The crime of genocide has two elements: intent and action. "Intentional" means purposeful. Intent can be proven directly from statements or orders. But more often, it must be inferred from a systematic pattern of coordinated acts.
Intent is different from motive. Whatever may be the motive for the crime (land expropriation, national security, territorial integrity, etc.,) if the perpetrators commit acts intended to destroy a group, even part of a group, it is genocide.
The phrase "in whole or in part" is important. Perpetrators need not intend to destroy the entire group. Destruction of only part of a group (such as its educated members, or members living in one region) is also genocide. Most authorities require intent to destroy a substantial number of group members -- mass murder. But an individual criminal may be guilty of genocide even if he kills only one person, so long as he knew he was participating in a larger plan to destroy the group.
The law protects four groups - national, ethnical, racial or religious groups.
A national group means a set of individuals whose identity is defined by a common country of nationality or national origin.
An ethnical group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common cultural traditions, language or heritage.
A racial group means a set of individuals whose identity is defined by physical characteristics.
A religious group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common religious creeds, beliefs, doctrines, practices, or rituals.
Copyright 2002 Genocide Watch.
By Gregory H. Stanton, President, Genocide Watch
The crime of genocide is defined in international law in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.
The Genocide Convention was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951. More than 130 nations have ratified the Genocide Convention and over 70 nations have made provisions for the punishment of genocide in domestic criminal law. The text of Article II of the Genocide Convention was included as a crime in Article 6 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Punishable Acts
The following are genocidal acts when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group's existence:
Killing members of the group includes direct killing and actions causing death.
Causing serious bodily or mental harm includes inflicting trauma on members of the group through widespread torture, rape, sexual violence, forced or coerced use of drugs, and mutilation.
Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group's physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services. Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.
Prevention of births includes involuntary sterilization, forced abortion, prohibition of marriage, and long-term separation of men and women intended to prevent procreation.
Forcible transfer of children may be imposed by direct force or by through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under the age of 14 years.
Genocidal acts need not kill or cause the death of members of a group. Causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevention of births and transfer of children are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group's existence:
It is a crime to plan or incite genocide, even before killing starts, and to aid or abet genocide: Criminal acts include conspiracy, direct and public incitement, attempts to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide.
Key Terms
The crime of genocide has two elements: intent and action. "Intentional" means purposeful. Intent can be proven directly from statements or orders. But more often, it must be inferred from a systematic pattern of coordinated acts.
Intent is different from motive. Whatever may be the motive for the crime (land expropriation, national security, territorial integrity, etc.,) if the perpetrators commit acts intended to destroy a group, even part of a group, it is genocide.
The phrase "in whole or in part" is important. Perpetrators need not intend to destroy the entire group. Destruction of only part of a group (such as its educated members, or members living in one region) is also genocide. Most authorities require intent to destroy a substantial number of group members -- mass murder. But an individual criminal may be guilty of genocide even if he kills only one person, so long as he knew he was participating in a larger plan to destroy the group.
The law protects four groups - national, ethnical, racial or religious groups.
A national group means a set of individuals whose identity is defined by a common country of nationality or national origin.
An ethnical group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common cultural traditions, language or heritage.
A racial group means a set of individuals whose identity is defined by physical characteristics.
A religious group is a set of individuals whose identity is defined by common religious creeds, beliefs, doctrines, practices, or rituals.
Copyright 2002 Genocide Watch.
underguy1
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Protocol 1, Additional to the Geneva Convention of 1977:
‘It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies such as irrigation works (denying them) to the civilian population or to the adverse Party … for any motive.’
‘It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies such as irrigation works (denying them) to the civilian population or to the adverse Party … for any motive.’
kimber22
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oh, no, man. Why you not talk about things that are historically correct?
Of course, people died beacause of lack of food and water in Iraq. But that was not because of the sanctions. It was because Saddam did not give his people the food of water they needed.
There are so many sources where you could learn how these things are really connected...
:
underguy1
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oh, no, man. Why you not talk about things that are historically correct?
Of course, people died beacause of lack of food and water in Iraq. But that was not because of the sanctions. It was because Saddam did not give his people the food of water they needed.
There are so many sources where you could learn how these things are really connected...
Oh do fuck off you utter clown.
kimber22
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underguy1
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You can't even read a thread on Literotica let alone decipher geopolitics.
You're a gormless twit. Go away.
L1tTleD1fferent
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Write back at you. (Not a typo... The same could be written about you.)
L1tTleD1fferent
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Try typing more of those.
underguy1
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File: 950901_511rept_91.txt
Page: 91
Total Pages: 1
IRAQ WATER TREATMMENT VULNERABILITIES (U)
Filename:511rept.91
DTG: 221900Z JAN 91
FM: DIA WASHINGTON DC
VIA: NMIST NET
TO: CENTCOM
INFO: CENTAF
UK STRIKE COMMAND
MARCENT
18 ABC
NAVCENT
SOCCENT
7TH CORPS
ANKARA
SUBJECT: IRAQ WATER TREATMMENT VULNERABILITIES (U)
AS OF 18 JAN 91 KEY JUDGMENTS.
1. IRAO DEPENDS ON IMPORTING-SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT-AND
SOME CHEMICALS TO PURIFY ITS WATER SUPPLY, MOST OF WHICH IS
HEAVILY MINERALIZED AND FREQUENTLY BRACKISH TO SALINE.
2. WITH NO DOMESTIC SOURCES OF BOTH WATER TREATMENT REPLACEMENT PARTS AND SOME ESSENTIAL CHEMICALS, IRAO WILL
CONTINUE ATTEMPTS TO CIRCUMVENT UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS TO
IMPORT THESE VITAL COMMODITIES.
3. FAILING TO SECURE SUPPLIES WILL RESULT IN A SHORTAGE OF
PURE DRINKING WATER FOR MUCH OF THE POPULATION. THIS COULD LEAD
TO INCREASED INCIDENCES, IF NOT EPIDEMICS, OF DISEASE AND TO
CERTAIN PURE-WATER-DEPENDENT INDUSTRIES BECOMING INCAPACITATED,
INCLUDING PETRO CHEMICALS, FERTILIZERS, PETROLEUM REFINING,
ELECTRONICS,PHARMACEUTICALS, FOOD PROCESSING, TEXTILES, CONCRETE
CONSTRUCTION,AND THERMAL POWERPLANTS.
4. IRAQ'S OVERALL WATER TREATMENT CAPABILITY WILL SUFFER A
SLOW DECLINE, RATHER THAN A PRECIPITOUS HALT, AS DWINDLING
SUPPLIES AND CANNIBALIZED PARTS ARE CONCENTRATED AT HIGHER
PRIORITY LOCATIONS. ALTHOUGH IRAQ IS ALREADY EXPERIENCING A LOSS
OF WATERTREATMENT CAPABILITY, IT PROBABLY WILL TAKE AT LEAST SIX
MONTHS (TO JUNE 1991) BEFORE THE SYSTEM IS FULLY DEGRADED.
5. UNLESS WATER TREATMENT SUPPLIES ARE EXEMPTED FROM THE
UNSANCTIONS FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS, NO ADEQUATE SOLUTION
EXISTS FOR IRAQ'S WATER PURIFICATION DILEMMA, SINCE NO SUITABLE
ALTERNATIVES,INCLUDING LOOTING SUPPLIES FROM KUWAIT,
SUFFICIENTLY MEET IRAQI NEEDS.)
6. IRAQI WATER QUALITY. SURFACE WATER FROM THE TIGRIS AND
EUPHRATES RIVER SYSTEM SUPPLIES ABOUT HALF OF IRAQ'S LAND
AREA,INCLUDING URBAN AREAS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES.
IRAQ'S REMAINING AREA, PRIMARILY RURAL, RELIES ON GROUND WATER
FROM WELLS.THE QUALITY OF UNTREATED WATER THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
VARIES WIDELY BUT GENERALLY IS POOR. HEAVY MINERALIZATION,
SUSPENDED SOLIDS AND,FREQUENTLY, HIGH SALINITY CHARACTERIZE
IRAQ'S WATER SUPPLY.ALTHoUGH IRAQ HAS MADE A CONSIDERABLE EFFORT
TO SUPPLY PURE WATER TO ITS POPULATION, THE WATER TREATMENT
SYSTEM WAS UNRELIABLE EVEN BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS
SALINITY CHARACTERIZE IRAO'S WATER SUPPLY.ALTHOUGH IRAQ HAS
MADE A CONSIDERABLE EFFORT TO SUPPLY PURE WATER TO ITS
POPULATION, THE WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM WAS UNRELIABLE EVEN
BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS WERE IMPOSED. MOST IRAOIS
PREFER TO DRINK IMPORTED BOTTLED WATER.
7. THE MINERALS IN THE WATER INCLUDE CONCENTRATIONS OF
CARBONATES, SULPHATES, CHLORIDES, AND, IN SOME LOCATIONS,
NITRATES.DRINKING HEAVILY MINERALIZED WATER COULD RESULT IN
DIARRHEA AND,OVER THE LONG TERM, STONES FORMING WITHIN THE
BODY. FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS, PIPES AND OTHER EOUIPMENT
WOULD SCALE (BECOME ENCRUSTED), EVENTUALLY CAUSING PLANTS TO
SHUT DOWN. SCALING IN BOILERS WOULD CAUSE EXPLOSIONS IF NOT
PREVENTED OR REMOVED.
8. MUCH OF IRAO'S GROUND WATER SUPPLIES ARE BRACKISH TO
SALINE. THE,LARGE RESERVOIRS NEAR BAGHDAD--THE THARTHAR, - .
HABBANIYAH, AND AL MILH LAKES--ARE SALINE. SINCE THESE LAKES
SERVE AS CATCH BASINS FOR FLOODS ON THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES
RIVERS, THE IRAOIS MUST REDUCE THE WATER VOLUME IN-THE LAKES
DURING THE LOW-WATER SEASON. EVAPARATlON DURING THE SUMMER -
ACCOMPLISHES THIS IMPART. SINCE REDUCING THE WATER VOLUME IN
THE LAKES ONLY INCREASES SALINITY, THE IRAQIS FLUSH THE LAKES
BY DIVERTING FRESH WATER FROM UP STREAM ON THE TIGRIS AND
EUPHRATES. THE FLOW IS DISCHARGED FURTHER DOWNSTREAM TO AVOID
FILLING THE BASINS. SINCE THE DISCHARGE OCCURS WHERE THE
RIVERS ENTER THE MESOPOTAMIAN PLAIN, THE DISCHARGE INCREASES
THE NATURAL SALINITY OF THE WATERS DOWNSTREAM, AFFECTING
IRRIGATED AGRICULTURAL LANDS IRAQ SPECIALIZES IN -
SALINE-RESISTANT CROPS SUCH AS BARLEr AND DATES) AND URBAN
AREAS, INCLUDING BAGHDAD.THE KARKH WATER TREATMENT PROJECT FOR
WESTERN BAGHDAD HAS AN IN TAKE POINT ABOUT 40 KILOMETERS NORTH
OF BAGHDAD, UPSTREAM FROM WHERE LAKE THARTHAR DISCHARGES INTO
THE TIGRIS. WATER BELOW THE DISCHARGE POINT REQUIRES
DESALINIZATION.
9. AT BASRAH, THE SHATT AL ARAB TENDS TO BE SALINE UNDER
CONDITIONS OF LOW-RIVER WATER VOLUMES AND DEPENDING ON TIDE
AND WIND DIRECTIONS. NORMALLY, THE SHATT AL ARAB AT BASRAH HAS
A SALINITY OF 1,500 TO 2,000 PARTS PER MILLION (PPM). SALINITY
HAS BEEN INCREASING OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS, AND IN THE FALL
1989, THE SALINITY HAD REACHED 6,000 TO 7,000 PPM, HIGHER THAN
EXISTING DESALINIZATION SYSTEMS COULD HANDLE. (OCEAN SEAWATER
IS ABOUT 36,000 PPM OF DISSOLVED SALTS; THE PERSIAN GULF IS
APPROXIMATELY 42,000 PPM.BRACKISH WATER IS A MINIMUM OF 1,000
PPM. THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION STANDARD FOR HUMAN
CONSUMPTION IS 500 PPM OR LESS.GROUND WATER IN IRAO'S LOWER
MESOPOTAMIAN BASIN RANGES FROM 5,000 TO 60,000 PPM, WITH SOME
LOCATIONS REACHING 80,000). SALINE WATER IS UNFIT FOR DRINKING
AND CORRODES INDUSTRIAL PIPES OR OTHER EXPOSED EQUIPMENT.
10. (U) SUSPENDED SOLIDS, PRIMARILY SILT, IN THE TIGRIS AND
EUPHRATES RIVER SYSTEM INCREASE WITH WATER VOLUME. UNLESS
REMOVED FROM THE WATER, THESE PARTICLES WOULD CLOG PIPES AND
FILTERS AND WOULD REQUIRE STRAINING BEFORE CONSUMPTION BY END
USERS.
11. IRAQ'S RIVERS ALSO CONTAIN BIOLOGICAL
MATERIALS,POLLUTANTS, AND ARE LADEN WITH BACTERIA. UNLESS THE
WATER IS PURIFIED WITH CHLORINE EPIDEMICS OF SUCH DISEASES AS
CHOLERA,HEPATITIS, AND TYPHOID COULD OCCUR.)
12. WATER TREATMENT REGIMES. WATER TREATMENT IS SPECIFIC
TO THE IMPURITIES OF THE WATER TREATED AND TO THE APPLICATION
FOR WHICH THE WATER WILL BE USED. THE BASIC PROCESS REQUIRES
CLARIFICATION (REMOVING SUSPENDED SOLIDS), FILTRATION, AND,
FOR
DRINKING AND SOME INDUSTRIAL USES, PURIFICATION. IN IRAQ, THE
PROCESS ALSO INCLUDES DESALINATING AND WATER SOFTENING.
13. CLARIFICATION REQUIRES ADDING FLOCCULANTS AND
COAGULANTS TO THE WATER. THE IRAOIS USE ALUMINUM SULPHATE
ALTHOUGH IRON SULPHATES ARE ACCEPTABLE TO BIND THE SUSPENDED
SOLIDS INTO CLUMPS FOR SETTLING. IF NOT REMOVED, THE
SEDIMENTS, OR SLUDGE, WOULD CLOG THE FILTRATION SYSTEM
(PROBABLY SAND) AND SHUT DOWN THE WATER PURIFICATION PLANT
UNTIL THE CLOGS WERE REMOVED. ALUMINUM SULPHATE SUPPLY LEVELS
ARE KNOWN TO BE CRITICALLY LOW, SINCE IRAQ TRIED AND FAILED TO
OBTAIN PRECURSOR CHEMICALS FROM JORDAN FOR ITS MANUFACTURE.
14. CHLORINATION NORMALY IS ACCOMPLISHED DURING SEVERAL
STAGES OF PURIFICATION, INCLUDING THE INITAL TREATMENT STAGE
TO PREVENT THE EQUIPMENT FROM LIMING AND TO KILL PATHOGENS
JUST PRIOR TO STORING THE FULLY TREATED WATER. THE CHLORINE
USED IN MOST PLANTS IS EITHER SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE, A LIOUID,
OR CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE, A POWDER. IF THEY ARE EQUIPPED WITH
INJECTORS, LOW-CAPACITY PLANTS CAN USE CHLORINE GAS DIRECTLY.
IRAO'S PLANT IN FALLUJA AND THE PC-I PETROCHEMICAL PLANT AT
BASRAH PRODUCE SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE AND, AS A BY-PRODUCT,
CAUSTIC SODA, WHICH IS USED TO ADJUST THE PH OF WATER
SUPPLIES. NORMALLY, BOTH LOCATIONS PRODUCE RELATIVELY SMALL
QUANTITIES OF CHLORINE FOR INDUSTRIAL AND SOME MUNICIPAL USE;
CHLORINE FOR MUNICIPAL SUPPLIES ALSO IS IMPORTED.RECENT
REPORTS INDICATE THE CHLORINE SUPPLY IS CRITICALLY LOW. ITS
IMPORTATION HAS BEEN EMBARGOED, AND BOTH MAIN PRODUCTION
PLANTS EITHER HAD BEEN SHUT DOWN FOR A TIME OR HAVE BEEN
PRODUCING MINIMAL OUTPUTS BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF IMPORTED
CHEMICALS AND THE INABILITY TO REPLACE PARTS. PREVIOUSLY WHEN
SUPPLIES WERE LOW, THE IRAQI SHAVE STOPPED CHLORINATING THE
DRINKING WATER, BUT ONLY FOR SHORT PERIODS. TO RETARD ALGAE
GROWTH, WHICH COULD CLOG PIPES, COPPER SULPHATE NORMALLY IS
ADDED TO THE WATER. BUT THIS PRACTICE HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED IN
IRAO, AND SUPPLIES OF COPPER SULPHATE ARE UNKNOWN.SULFURIC
ACID TYPICALLY IS ADDED AS WELL, BUT IRAQ PROBABLY CAN PRODUCE
SUFFICIENT SUPPLIES.
15. IRAQ APPARENTLY USES LIME, AT LEAST AT THE NEW KARKH
TREATMENT PLANT, TO SOFTEN WATER. THE LIME PRECIPITATES
COLLOIDAL CARBONATE IMPURITIES FROM THE WATER. SODA ASH AND
ZEOLITES ALSO NORMALLY ARE USED TO REMOVE NONCARBONATE MINERAL
IMPURITIES, BUT THEIR USE IN IRAO HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED.
LOCAL COMPANIES SELL BOTTLED SOFT WATER IN IRAO, SUGGESTING
THAT MUNICIPAL WATER SYSTEMS DO NOT NORMALLY SOFTEN WATER.
IRAQ SHOULD HAVE NO SHORTAGES OF LIME. HOWEVER, THE LACK OF
SOFTENING CHEMICALS REPORTEDLY HAS INCAPACITATED THE BOTTLED
SOFT-WATER INDUSTRY.
16. BETWEEN 1982 AND 1990, SOME IRAOI INDUSTRIES INSTALLED
REVERSIBLE ION EXCHANGE ELECTRODIALYSIS MEMBRANE SYSTEMS,
OBTAINED FROM AN AMERICAN SOURCE, TO SOFTEN AND DESALINATE
WATER. THE MEMBRANES LAST 5 TO 7 YEARS AND DO NOT REQUIRE
CHEMICAL PRETREATMENT OF THE WATER. THEY NORMALLY SERVE
SMALLER VOLUME REQUIREMENTS.HOWEVER, A MAJOR OIL REFINERY, AL
DAURA IN BAGHDAD, INSTALLED THIS SYSTEM IN 1985, AND IT
PRODUCES 24,000 CUBIC METERS OF PURIFIED WATER PER DAY.
17. ABOUT ONE QUARTER OF ALL IRAOI WATER SUPPLIED FOR
INDUSTRIAL AND HUMAN CONSUMPTION REQUIRES DESALINIZATION. IRAO
RELIES ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON ION EXCHANGE OR REVERSE OSMOSIS
SYSTEMS RATHER THAN MULTISTAGE FLASH UNITS. ION EXCHANGE AND
REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES ARE SPECIFIC TO THE TYPE OF
EQUIPMENT OF WHICH THEY ARE A COMPONENT, AS ARE THE CHEMICALS
REOUIRED. PREVIOUS IRAQI USE OF SUBSTITUTES HAS NOT BEEN
SATISFACTORY. IRAO REPORTEDLY DEPENDS ON IMPORTED MEMBRANES
AND IMPORTS CHEMICALS FROM SEVERAL SOURCES. IRAQ HAD NOT
COMPLETED THE MAJOR PURCHASE AND DELIVERY OF SPARE MEMBRANES
BEFORE INVADING KUWAIT. ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE MEMBRANES SINCE
THE UN SANCTIONS WERE IMPOSED HAVE FAILED. SINCE THE ATTEMPT
TO IMPORT MEMBRANES CORRESPONED TO THEIR NORMAL REPLACEMENT PERIOD, IRAQ
APPARENTLY DID NOT STOCKPILE ABUNDANT SPACE MEMBRANES OR CHEMICALS AND
PROBABLY HAD NO MORE THAN A 2-MONTH SUPPLY PRIOR TO THE INVASION.
18. POLYAMIDE MEMBRANES WHICH IRAO USES IN SOME
DESALINIZATION EOUIPMENT, DETERIORATE WHEN EXPOSED TO CHLORINE
IONS.PRIOR TO PASSING THROUGH THE MEMBRANE, WAT-ER IS TREATED
WITH SODIUM METABISULPHITE TO REMOVE THE CHLORINE USED IN
PRETREATMENT. THE CHLORINE THEN IS RE-STORED FOR LATER
PURIFICATION. THE STATUS OF SODIUM METABISULPHITE SUPPLIES IS
NOT KNOWN, BUT SUPPLIES PROBABLY ARE DWINDLING, WHICH WILL
ESCALATE FAILURES OF THIS MEMBRANE TYPE.IRAO ALSO USES
CELLULOSE ACETATE MEMBRANES (AN OLD TECHNOLOGY),WHICH HAVE AN
EXCEPTIONALLY SHORT LIFE AND ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO BIOLOGICAL
CONTAMINATION. IRAO REPORTEDLY CAN MANUFACTURE CELLULOSE
MEMBRANES, BUT THE AVAILABILITY OF PRECURSOR STOCKS IS
PROBABLY LOW.IRAQ HAD BEEN ACOUIRING REVERSE ELECTRODIALYSIS
ION EXCHANGE MEMBRANES PRIOR TO THE UN SANCTIONS. HOWEVER,
MOST SYSTEMS USE REVERSE OSMOSIS OR UNIDIRECTIONAL
ELECTRODIALYSIS, WHICH, UNLIKE REVERSE ELECTRODIALYSIS
MEMBRANES, REOUIRE CHEMICALS TO MAKE THEM WORK.)
19. INDUSTRIAL WATER TREATMENT. INDUSTRIES REQUIRE TREATED
WATER, AND THE TYPE OF TREATMENT DEPENDS ON THE
APPLICATION. NORMALLY, SOFTENING AND DESALINIZATION ARE
REOUIRED TO PREVENT PIPE SAND EOUIPMENT FROM CORRODING OR
SCALING. IN THE PETRO CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, WATER USED FOR
COOLING IS PARTIALLY TREATED TO PREVENT SCALING. WATER USED IN
THERMAL POWERPLANTS OR REFINERIES TO PRODUCE STEAM MUST BE
PURE TO PREVENT BOTH CORROSION AND SCALING.OTHERWISE, LOSS OF
CAPABILITY COULD OCCUR WITHIN 2 MONTHS. IN ADDITION, FOOD
PROCESSING, ELECTRONIC, AND, PARTICULARLY,PHARMACEUTICAL
PLANTS REOUIRE EXTREMELY PURE WATER THAT IS FREE FROM
BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS. LARGE INDUSTRIAL PLANTS, INCLUDING
PETROCHEMICAL, REFINING, AND FERTILIZER PLANTS, COLLOCATE
THEIR WATER TREATMENT FACILITIES. TURNKEY CONTRACTORS BUILT
THESE FACILITIES, AND THE PARTS ARE SPECIFIC TO EACH SYSTEM,
WHICH COMPLICATES THEIR REPLACEMENT. THE IRAOIS COULD NOT
MANUFACTURE DUPLICATES AND THEIR IMPORTATION IS EMBARGOED.)
20. IRAQI ALTERNATIVES. IRAQ COULD TRY CONVINCING THE
UNITED NATIONS OR INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES TO EXEMPT WATER
TREATMENT SUPPLIES FROM SANCTIONS FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS. IT
PROBABLY ALSO IS ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE SUPPLIES BY USING SOME
SYMPATHETIC COUNTRIES AS FRONTS. IF SUCH ATTEMPTS FAIL, IRAQI
ALTERNATIVES ARE NOT ADEOUATE FOR THEIR NATIONAL REOUIREMENTS.
21. VARIOUS IRAOI INDUSTRIES HAVE WATER TREATMENT CHEMICAL
SAND EQUIPMENT ON HAND, IF THEY HAVE NOT ALREADY BEEN CONSUMED
OR BROKEN. IRAO POSSIBLY COULD CANNIBALIZE PARTS OR ENTIRE
SYSTEMS FROM LOWER TO HIGHER PRIORITY PLANTS, AS WELL AS
DIVERT CHEMICALS,SUCH AS CHLORINE. HOWEVER, THIS CAPABILITY
WOULD BE LIMITED AND TEMPORARY. IRAQ PREVIOUSLY HAD ACQUIRED
SEVERAL HUNDRED CONTAINERIZED REVERSE OSMOSIS MODULES FOR '
LOCALIZED USE THAT COULD BE RELOCATED. WITHOUT CHEMICALS AND
REPLACEMENT MEMBRANES, THESE UNITS WHERE EVENTUALLY WOULD BECOME
USELESS. HOWEVER, CONSOLIDATING CHEMICALS OR CANNIBALIZING
PARTS AND MOVING UNITS WHERE NECESSARY COULD SUSTAIN SOME
PURIFICATION OPERATIONS INDUSTRIAL PLANTS THAT ARE INOPERABLE
FOR REASONS-OTHER THAN THE LACK OF WATER TREATMENT SUPPLIES
COULD PROCESS WATER FOR MUNICIPAL NEEDS OR POSSIBLY RELOCATE
THEIR PURIFICATION EOUIPMENT.
22. THE DIFFERENCE IN WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS LIMITS THE
BENEFITS TO IRAQ OF PLUNDERING KUWAIT'S WATER TREATMENT
CHEMICALS. THE KUWAITIS RELY PRIMARILY ON DESALINATING
SEAWATER, AND THEIR WATER NEEDS ARE CONSIDERABLY SMALLER THAN
IRAQ'S. IRAQ COULD NOT USE CHEMICALS INTENDED FOR KUWAITI
WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS, EXCEPT FOR LIMITED QUANTITIES OF
CHLORINE. ATTEMPTS TO CIRCUMVENT THE SANCTIONS TO OBTAIN WATER
TREATMENT CHEMICALS SUGGEST THAT ANY USEFUL SUPPLIES FROM
KUWAIT ALREADY HAVE BEEN LOOTED AND USED.
23. IRAO HAS INSTALLED A PIPELINE FROM THE DOHA
DESALINIZATION PLANT IN KUWAIT THAT CONNECTS WITH DISTRIBUTION
PIPES AT A WATERTREATMENT PLANT NEAR BASRAH. THIS SOURCE OF
PURE WATER APPARENTLY HAS ENABLED THE PC-I PETROCHEMICAL PLANT
TO OPERATE AND TO PRODUCE CHLORINE BY ELECTROLYSIS OF KUWAITI
WATER MIXED WITH PURE SODIUM CHLORIDE. AT LEAST SOME OF THIS
CHLORINE PROBABLY IS USED FOR MUNICIPAL WATER PURIFICATION,
BUT THE OUANTITY PRODUCED WOULD BE INADEOUATE FOR NATIONAL
REOUIREMENTS. MOREOVER, SOME OF THE CHLORINE PROBABLY IS USED
AT THE PC-I PLANT TO MAKE POLYVINYL CHLORIDES TO CREATE THE
PLASTIC SHEETS USED IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. THE USE OF
KUWAITI WATER PROBABLY WILL NOT LAST LONG SINCE THE DOHA PLANT
USES THE MULTISTAGE FLASH DESALINIZATION PROCESS, WHICH
REOUIRES ACID DOSING OR THE ADDITION OF POLYMERS TO PREVENT
SCALING OF THE HEAT EXCHANGES. THE UN SANCTIONS MAY PREVENT
RESUPPLY OF THESE CHEMICALS. INTENSIVE MAINTENANCE ALSO IS
REOUIRED TO KEEP THE UNITS OPERATING, AND THAT PROBABLY WOULD
REOUIRE THE SERVICES OF TRAINED KUWAITI EMPLOYEES SINCE IRAQ
HAS LITTLE EXPERIENCE WITH MULTISTAGE FLASH UNITS.
24. IRAQ'S BEST SOURCES OF QUALITY WATER ARE IN THE
MOUNTAINS OF THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST, WHERE MINERALIZATION AND
SALINITY ARE WITHIN ACCEPTABLE LIMITS. FOR THE SHORT TERM,
IRAO CONCEIVABLY COULD TRUCK WATER FROM THE MOUNTAIN
RESERVOIRS TO URBAN AREAS. BUT THE CAPABILITY TO GAIN
SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES IS EXTREMELY LIMITED. THE AMOUNT OF PIPE
ON HAND AND THE LACK OF PUMPING STATIONS WOULD LIMIT LAYING
PIPELINES TO THESE RESERVOIRS. MOREOVER, WITHOUT CHLORINE
PURIFICATION, THE WATER STILL WOULD CONTAIN BIOLOGICAL
POLLUTANTS. SOME AFFLUENT IRAQIS COULD OBTAIN THEIR OWN
MINIMALLY ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF GOOD OUALITY WATER FROM NORTHERN
IRAOI SOURCES.IF BOILED, THE WATER COULD BE SAFELY CONSUMED.
POORER IRAQIS AND INDUSTRIES REQUIRING LARGE OUANTITIES OF PURE
WATER WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MEET THEIR NEEDS.
25. PRECIPITATION OCCURS IN IRAQ DURING THE WINTER AND
SPRING,BUT IT FALLS PRIMARILY IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS.
SPORADIC RAINS,SOMETIMES HEAVY , FALL OVER THE LOWER PLAINS.
BUT IRAQ COULD NOT RELY ON RAIN TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE PURE
WATER.
26. THE SALINE OR ALKALINE CONTENT-OF GROUND WATER IN MOST
LOCATIONS WOULD CONSTRAIN DRILLING WELLS IN THE MESOPOTAMIAN
PLAIN TO OBTAIN PURER WATER MOREOVER, MUCH OF THE POPULATION
USES SEPTIC TANKS, AND THE UNDERLYING GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY
WOULD CONTAMINATE WELLS IN MANY LOCATIONS.))OUTLOOK)
27. IRAQ WILL SUFFER INCREASING SHORTAGES OF PURIFIED
WATER BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF REOUIRED CHEMICALS AND
DESALINIZATION MEMBRANES. INCIDENCES OF DISEASE, INCLUDING
POSSIBLE EPIDEMICS,WILL BECOME PROBABLE UNLESS THE POPULATION
WERE CAREFUL TO BOIL WATER BEFORE CONSUMPTION, PARTICULARLY
SINCE THE SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM, NEVER A HIGH PRIORITY, WILL
SUFFER THE SAME LOSS OF CAPABILITY WITH THE LACK OF CHLORINE.
LOCALLY PRODUCED FOOD AND MEDICINE COULD BE CONTAMINATED. LACK
OF COAGULATION CHEMICALS WILL CAUSE PERIODIC SHUTDOWNS OF
TREATMENT PLANTS FOR UNCLOGGING AND CLEANING FILTERS, CAUSING
INTERRUPTIONS OF WATER SUPPLIES. AS DESALINIZATION EQUIPMENT
BECOMES INOPERABLE, SALINE WATER SOURCES WILL BECOME
INCREASINGLY UNUSABLE. TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT SHUT DOWNS OF
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS THAT RELY ON TREATED WATER WILL
MULTIPLY.CANNIBALIZING LOWER PRIORITY OPERATIONS WILL
ACCELERATE THE TREND.
28. THE ENTIRE IRAOI WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM WILL NOT
COLLAPSE PRECIPITOUSLY, BUT ITS CAPABILITIES WILL DECLINE
STEADILY AS DWINDLING SUPPLIES INCREASINGLY ARE DIVERTED TO
HIGHER PRIORITY SITES WITH COMPATIBLE EQUIPMENT. KARKH, IRAO'S
LARGEST WATERTREATMENT PLANT (AND ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST),
WAS DESIGNED TO STORE 30 DAYS OF SUPPLIES ON SITE. THE
QUANTITY OF SUPPLIES, IF ANY, NORMALLY STOCKPILED IN
CENTRALIZED WAREHOUSES BEFORE SHIPMENT TO TREATMENT PLANTS IS
UNKNOWN, BUT A 6 MONTH TO I YEAR SUPPLY OF CHEMICALS IS THE
NORMAL INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE. HOWEVER, CURRENT IRAQI EFFORTS TO
OBTAIN CHEMICALS AND MEMBRANES AND THE INSTALLATION OF A
PIPELINE TO OBTAIN PURE KUWAITI WATER SUGGEST THAT THERE WAS
NOT ADEOUATE STOCKPILING PRIOR TO THE INVASION OF KUWAIT. SOME
CHEMICALS ARE DEPLETED OR ARE NEARING DEPLETION, AND OLDER
MEMBRANES ARE NOT BEING REPLACED ON SCHEDULE. CONSEOUENTLY,
IRAQ PROBABLY IS USING UNTREATED OR PARTIALLY TREATED WATER IN
SOME LOCATIONS. FULL DEGRADATION OF THE WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM
PROBABLY WILL TAKE AT LEAST ANOTHER 6 MONTHS.
[ (b)(2) ]
Page: 91
Total Pages: 1
IRAQ WATER TREATMMENT VULNERABILITIES (U)
Filename:511rept.91
DTG: 221900Z JAN 91
FM: DIA WASHINGTON DC
VIA: NMIST NET
TO: CENTCOM
INFO: CENTAF
UK STRIKE COMMAND
MARCENT
18 ABC
NAVCENT
SOCCENT
7TH CORPS
ANKARA
SUBJECT: IRAQ WATER TREATMMENT VULNERABILITIES (U)
AS OF 18 JAN 91 KEY JUDGMENTS.
1. IRAO DEPENDS ON IMPORTING-SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT-AND
SOME CHEMICALS TO PURIFY ITS WATER SUPPLY, MOST OF WHICH IS
HEAVILY MINERALIZED AND FREQUENTLY BRACKISH TO SALINE.
2. WITH NO DOMESTIC SOURCES OF BOTH WATER TREATMENT REPLACEMENT PARTS AND SOME ESSENTIAL CHEMICALS, IRAO WILL
CONTINUE ATTEMPTS TO CIRCUMVENT UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS TO
IMPORT THESE VITAL COMMODITIES.
3. FAILING TO SECURE SUPPLIES WILL RESULT IN A SHORTAGE OF
PURE DRINKING WATER FOR MUCH OF THE POPULATION. THIS COULD LEAD
TO INCREASED INCIDENCES, IF NOT EPIDEMICS, OF DISEASE AND TO
CERTAIN PURE-WATER-DEPENDENT INDUSTRIES BECOMING INCAPACITATED,
INCLUDING PETRO CHEMICALS, FERTILIZERS, PETROLEUM REFINING,
ELECTRONICS,PHARMACEUTICALS, FOOD PROCESSING, TEXTILES, CONCRETE
CONSTRUCTION,AND THERMAL POWERPLANTS.
4. IRAQ'S OVERALL WATER TREATMENT CAPABILITY WILL SUFFER A
SLOW DECLINE, RATHER THAN A PRECIPITOUS HALT, AS DWINDLING
SUPPLIES AND CANNIBALIZED PARTS ARE CONCENTRATED AT HIGHER
PRIORITY LOCATIONS. ALTHOUGH IRAQ IS ALREADY EXPERIENCING A LOSS
OF WATERTREATMENT CAPABILITY, IT PROBABLY WILL TAKE AT LEAST SIX
MONTHS (TO JUNE 1991) BEFORE THE SYSTEM IS FULLY DEGRADED.
5. UNLESS WATER TREATMENT SUPPLIES ARE EXEMPTED FROM THE
UNSANCTIONS FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS, NO ADEQUATE SOLUTION
EXISTS FOR IRAQ'S WATER PURIFICATION DILEMMA, SINCE NO SUITABLE
ALTERNATIVES,INCLUDING LOOTING SUPPLIES FROM KUWAIT,
SUFFICIENTLY MEET IRAQI NEEDS.)
6. IRAQI WATER QUALITY. SURFACE WATER FROM THE TIGRIS AND
EUPHRATES RIVER SYSTEM SUPPLIES ABOUT HALF OF IRAQ'S LAND
AREA,INCLUDING URBAN AREAS AND THEIR ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES.
IRAQ'S REMAINING AREA, PRIMARILY RURAL, RELIES ON GROUND WATER
FROM WELLS.THE QUALITY OF UNTREATED WATER THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
VARIES WIDELY BUT GENERALLY IS POOR. HEAVY MINERALIZATION,
SUSPENDED SOLIDS AND,FREQUENTLY, HIGH SALINITY CHARACTERIZE
IRAQ'S WATER SUPPLY.ALTHoUGH IRAQ HAS MADE A CONSIDERABLE EFFORT
TO SUPPLY PURE WATER TO ITS POPULATION, THE WATER TREATMENT
SYSTEM WAS UNRELIABLE EVEN BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS
SALINITY CHARACTERIZE IRAO'S WATER SUPPLY.ALTHOUGH IRAQ HAS
MADE A CONSIDERABLE EFFORT TO SUPPLY PURE WATER TO ITS
POPULATION, THE WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM WAS UNRELIABLE EVEN
BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS SANCTIONS WERE IMPOSED. MOST IRAOIS
PREFER TO DRINK IMPORTED BOTTLED WATER.
7. THE MINERALS IN THE WATER INCLUDE CONCENTRATIONS OF
CARBONATES, SULPHATES, CHLORIDES, AND, IN SOME LOCATIONS,
NITRATES.DRINKING HEAVILY MINERALIZED WATER COULD RESULT IN
DIARRHEA AND,OVER THE LONG TERM, STONES FORMING WITHIN THE
BODY. FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS, PIPES AND OTHER EOUIPMENT
WOULD SCALE (BECOME ENCRUSTED), EVENTUALLY CAUSING PLANTS TO
SHUT DOWN. SCALING IN BOILERS WOULD CAUSE EXPLOSIONS IF NOT
PREVENTED OR REMOVED.
8. MUCH OF IRAO'S GROUND WATER SUPPLIES ARE BRACKISH TO
SALINE. THE,LARGE RESERVOIRS NEAR BAGHDAD--THE THARTHAR, - .
HABBANIYAH, AND AL MILH LAKES--ARE SALINE. SINCE THESE LAKES
SERVE AS CATCH BASINS FOR FLOODS ON THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES
RIVERS, THE IRAOIS MUST REDUCE THE WATER VOLUME IN-THE LAKES
DURING THE LOW-WATER SEASON. EVAPARATlON DURING THE SUMMER -
ACCOMPLISHES THIS IMPART. SINCE REDUCING THE WATER VOLUME IN
THE LAKES ONLY INCREASES SALINITY, THE IRAQIS FLUSH THE LAKES
BY DIVERTING FRESH WATER FROM UP STREAM ON THE TIGRIS AND
EUPHRATES. THE FLOW IS DISCHARGED FURTHER DOWNSTREAM TO AVOID
FILLING THE BASINS. SINCE THE DISCHARGE OCCURS WHERE THE
RIVERS ENTER THE MESOPOTAMIAN PLAIN, THE DISCHARGE INCREASES
THE NATURAL SALINITY OF THE WATERS DOWNSTREAM, AFFECTING
IRRIGATED AGRICULTURAL LANDS IRAQ SPECIALIZES IN -
SALINE-RESISTANT CROPS SUCH AS BARLEr AND DATES) AND URBAN
AREAS, INCLUDING BAGHDAD.THE KARKH WATER TREATMENT PROJECT FOR
WESTERN BAGHDAD HAS AN IN TAKE POINT ABOUT 40 KILOMETERS NORTH
OF BAGHDAD, UPSTREAM FROM WHERE LAKE THARTHAR DISCHARGES INTO
THE TIGRIS. WATER BELOW THE DISCHARGE POINT REQUIRES
DESALINIZATION.
9. AT BASRAH, THE SHATT AL ARAB TENDS TO BE SALINE UNDER
CONDITIONS OF LOW-RIVER WATER VOLUMES AND DEPENDING ON TIDE
AND WIND DIRECTIONS. NORMALLY, THE SHATT AL ARAB AT BASRAH HAS
A SALINITY OF 1,500 TO 2,000 PARTS PER MILLION (PPM). SALINITY
HAS BEEN INCREASING OVER THE LAST 5 YEARS, AND IN THE FALL
1989, THE SALINITY HAD REACHED 6,000 TO 7,000 PPM, HIGHER THAN
EXISTING DESALINIZATION SYSTEMS COULD HANDLE. (OCEAN SEAWATER
IS ABOUT 36,000 PPM OF DISSOLVED SALTS; THE PERSIAN GULF IS
APPROXIMATELY 42,000 PPM.BRACKISH WATER IS A MINIMUM OF 1,000
PPM. THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION STANDARD FOR HUMAN
CONSUMPTION IS 500 PPM OR LESS.GROUND WATER IN IRAO'S LOWER
MESOPOTAMIAN BASIN RANGES FROM 5,000 TO 60,000 PPM, WITH SOME
LOCATIONS REACHING 80,000). SALINE WATER IS UNFIT FOR DRINKING
AND CORRODES INDUSTRIAL PIPES OR OTHER EXPOSED EQUIPMENT.
10. (U) SUSPENDED SOLIDS, PRIMARILY SILT, IN THE TIGRIS AND
EUPHRATES RIVER SYSTEM INCREASE WITH WATER VOLUME. UNLESS
REMOVED FROM THE WATER, THESE PARTICLES WOULD CLOG PIPES AND
FILTERS AND WOULD REQUIRE STRAINING BEFORE CONSUMPTION BY END
USERS.
11. IRAQ'S RIVERS ALSO CONTAIN BIOLOGICAL
MATERIALS,POLLUTANTS, AND ARE LADEN WITH BACTERIA. UNLESS THE
WATER IS PURIFIED WITH CHLORINE EPIDEMICS OF SUCH DISEASES AS
CHOLERA,HEPATITIS, AND TYPHOID COULD OCCUR.)
12. WATER TREATMENT REGIMES. WATER TREATMENT IS SPECIFIC
TO THE IMPURITIES OF THE WATER TREATED AND TO THE APPLICATION
FOR WHICH THE WATER WILL BE USED. THE BASIC PROCESS REQUIRES
CLARIFICATION (REMOVING SUSPENDED SOLIDS), FILTRATION, AND,
FOR
DRINKING AND SOME INDUSTRIAL USES, PURIFICATION. IN IRAQ, THE
PROCESS ALSO INCLUDES DESALINATING AND WATER SOFTENING.
13. CLARIFICATION REQUIRES ADDING FLOCCULANTS AND
COAGULANTS TO THE WATER. THE IRAOIS USE ALUMINUM SULPHATE
ALTHOUGH IRON SULPHATES ARE ACCEPTABLE TO BIND THE SUSPENDED
SOLIDS INTO CLUMPS FOR SETTLING. IF NOT REMOVED, THE
SEDIMENTS, OR SLUDGE, WOULD CLOG THE FILTRATION SYSTEM
(PROBABLY SAND) AND SHUT DOWN THE WATER PURIFICATION PLANT
UNTIL THE CLOGS WERE REMOVED. ALUMINUM SULPHATE SUPPLY LEVELS
ARE KNOWN TO BE CRITICALLY LOW, SINCE IRAQ TRIED AND FAILED TO
OBTAIN PRECURSOR CHEMICALS FROM JORDAN FOR ITS MANUFACTURE.
14. CHLORINATION NORMALY IS ACCOMPLISHED DURING SEVERAL
STAGES OF PURIFICATION, INCLUDING THE INITAL TREATMENT STAGE
TO PREVENT THE EQUIPMENT FROM LIMING AND TO KILL PATHOGENS
JUST PRIOR TO STORING THE FULLY TREATED WATER. THE CHLORINE
USED IN MOST PLANTS IS EITHER SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE, A LIOUID,
OR CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE, A POWDER. IF THEY ARE EQUIPPED WITH
INJECTORS, LOW-CAPACITY PLANTS CAN USE CHLORINE GAS DIRECTLY.
IRAO'S PLANT IN FALLUJA AND THE PC-I PETROCHEMICAL PLANT AT
BASRAH PRODUCE SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE AND, AS A BY-PRODUCT,
CAUSTIC SODA, WHICH IS USED TO ADJUST THE PH OF WATER
SUPPLIES. NORMALLY, BOTH LOCATIONS PRODUCE RELATIVELY SMALL
QUANTITIES OF CHLORINE FOR INDUSTRIAL AND SOME MUNICIPAL USE;
CHLORINE FOR MUNICIPAL SUPPLIES ALSO IS IMPORTED.RECENT
REPORTS INDICATE THE CHLORINE SUPPLY IS CRITICALLY LOW. ITS
IMPORTATION HAS BEEN EMBARGOED, AND BOTH MAIN PRODUCTION
PLANTS EITHER HAD BEEN SHUT DOWN FOR A TIME OR HAVE BEEN
PRODUCING MINIMAL OUTPUTS BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF IMPORTED
CHEMICALS AND THE INABILITY TO REPLACE PARTS. PREVIOUSLY WHEN
SUPPLIES WERE LOW, THE IRAQI SHAVE STOPPED CHLORINATING THE
DRINKING WATER, BUT ONLY FOR SHORT PERIODS. TO RETARD ALGAE
GROWTH, WHICH COULD CLOG PIPES, COPPER SULPHATE NORMALLY IS
ADDED TO THE WATER. BUT THIS PRACTICE HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED IN
IRAO, AND SUPPLIES OF COPPER SULPHATE ARE UNKNOWN.SULFURIC
ACID TYPICALLY IS ADDED AS WELL, BUT IRAQ PROBABLY CAN PRODUCE
SUFFICIENT SUPPLIES.
15. IRAQ APPARENTLY USES LIME, AT LEAST AT THE NEW KARKH
TREATMENT PLANT, TO SOFTEN WATER. THE LIME PRECIPITATES
COLLOIDAL CARBONATE IMPURITIES FROM THE WATER. SODA ASH AND
ZEOLITES ALSO NORMALLY ARE USED TO REMOVE NONCARBONATE MINERAL
IMPURITIES, BUT THEIR USE IN IRAO HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED.
LOCAL COMPANIES SELL BOTTLED SOFT WATER IN IRAO, SUGGESTING
THAT MUNICIPAL WATER SYSTEMS DO NOT NORMALLY SOFTEN WATER.
IRAQ SHOULD HAVE NO SHORTAGES OF LIME. HOWEVER, THE LACK OF
SOFTENING CHEMICALS REPORTEDLY HAS INCAPACITATED THE BOTTLED
SOFT-WATER INDUSTRY.
16. BETWEEN 1982 AND 1990, SOME IRAOI INDUSTRIES INSTALLED
REVERSIBLE ION EXCHANGE ELECTRODIALYSIS MEMBRANE SYSTEMS,
OBTAINED FROM AN AMERICAN SOURCE, TO SOFTEN AND DESALINATE
WATER. THE MEMBRANES LAST 5 TO 7 YEARS AND DO NOT REQUIRE
CHEMICAL PRETREATMENT OF THE WATER. THEY NORMALLY SERVE
SMALLER VOLUME REQUIREMENTS.HOWEVER, A MAJOR OIL REFINERY, AL
DAURA IN BAGHDAD, INSTALLED THIS SYSTEM IN 1985, AND IT
PRODUCES 24,000 CUBIC METERS OF PURIFIED WATER PER DAY.
17. ABOUT ONE QUARTER OF ALL IRAOI WATER SUPPLIED FOR
INDUSTRIAL AND HUMAN CONSUMPTION REQUIRES DESALINIZATION. IRAO
RELIES ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON ION EXCHANGE OR REVERSE OSMOSIS
SYSTEMS RATHER THAN MULTISTAGE FLASH UNITS. ION EXCHANGE AND
REVERSE OSMOSIS MEMBRANES ARE SPECIFIC TO THE TYPE OF
EQUIPMENT OF WHICH THEY ARE A COMPONENT, AS ARE THE CHEMICALS
REOUIRED. PREVIOUS IRAQI USE OF SUBSTITUTES HAS NOT BEEN
SATISFACTORY. IRAO REPORTEDLY DEPENDS ON IMPORTED MEMBRANES
AND IMPORTS CHEMICALS FROM SEVERAL SOURCES. IRAQ HAD NOT
COMPLETED THE MAJOR PURCHASE AND DELIVERY OF SPARE MEMBRANES
BEFORE INVADING KUWAIT. ATTEMPTS TO PROCURE MEMBRANES SINCE
THE UN SANCTIONS WERE IMPOSED HAVE FAILED. SINCE THE ATTEMPT
TO IMPORT MEMBRANES CORRESPONED TO THEIR NORMAL REPLACEMENT PERIOD, IRAQ
APPARENTLY DID NOT STOCKPILE ABUNDANT SPACE MEMBRANES OR CHEMICALS AND
PROBABLY HAD NO MORE THAN A 2-MONTH SUPPLY PRIOR TO THE INVASION.
18. POLYAMIDE MEMBRANES WHICH IRAO USES IN SOME
DESALINIZATION EOUIPMENT, DETERIORATE WHEN EXPOSED TO CHLORINE
IONS.PRIOR TO PASSING THROUGH THE MEMBRANE, WAT-ER IS TREATED
WITH SODIUM METABISULPHITE TO REMOVE THE CHLORINE USED IN
PRETREATMENT. THE CHLORINE THEN IS RE-STORED FOR LATER
PURIFICATION. THE STATUS OF SODIUM METABISULPHITE SUPPLIES IS
NOT KNOWN, BUT SUPPLIES PROBABLY ARE DWINDLING, WHICH WILL
ESCALATE FAILURES OF THIS MEMBRANE TYPE.IRAO ALSO USES
CELLULOSE ACETATE MEMBRANES (AN OLD TECHNOLOGY),WHICH HAVE AN
EXCEPTIONALLY SHORT LIFE AND ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO BIOLOGICAL
CONTAMINATION. IRAO REPORTEDLY CAN MANUFACTURE CELLULOSE
MEMBRANES, BUT THE AVAILABILITY OF PRECURSOR STOCKS IS
PROBABLY LOW.IRAQ HAD BEEN ACOUIRING REVERSE ELECTRODIALYSIS
ION EXCHANGE MEMBRANES PRIOR TO THE UN SANCTIONS. HOWEVER,
MOST SYSTEMS USE REVERSE OSMOSIS OR UNIDIRECTIONAL
ELECTRODIALYSIS, WHICH, UNLIKE REVERSE ELECTRODIALYSIS
MEMBRANES, REOUIRE CHEMICALS TO MAKE THEM WORK.)
19. INDUSTRIAL WATER TREATMENT. INDUSTRIES REQUIRE TREATED
WATER, AND THE TYPE OF TREATMENT DEPENDS ON THE
APPLICATION. NORMALLY, SOFTENING AND DESALINIZATION ARE
REOUIRED TO PREVENT PIPE SAND EOUIPMENT FROM CORRODING OR
SCALING. IN THE PETRO CHEMICAL INDUSTRY, WATER USED FOR
COOLING IS PARTIALLY TREATED TO PREVENT SCALING. WATER USED IN
THERMAL POWERPLANTS OR REFINERIES TO PRODUCE STEAM MUST BE
PURE TO PREVENT BOTH CORROSION AND SCALING.OTHERWISE, LOSS OF
CAPABILITY COULD OCCUR WITHIN 2 MONTHS. IN ADDITION, FOOD
PROCESSING, ELECTRONIC, AND, PARTICULARLY,PHARMACEUTICAL
PLANTS REOUIRE EXTREMELY PURE WATER THAT IS FREE FROM
BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANTS. LARGE INDUSTRIAL PLANTS, INCLUDING
PETROCHEMICAL, REFINING, AND FERTILIZER PLANTS, COLLOCATE
THEIR WATER TREATMENT FACILITIES. TURNKEY CONTRACTORS BUILT
THESE FACILITIES, AND THE PARTS ARE SPECIFIC TO EACH SYSTEM,
WHICH COMPLICATES THEIR REPLACEMENT. THE IRAOIS COULD NOT
MANUFACTURE DUPLICATES AND THEIR IMPORTATION IS EMBARGOED.)
20. IRAQI ALTERNATIVES. IRAQ COULD TRY CONVINCING THE
UNITED NATIONS OR INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES TO EXEMPT WATER
TREATMENT SUPPLIES FROM SANCTIONS FOR HUMANITARIAN REASONS. IT
PROBABLY ALSO IS ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE SUPPLIES BY USING SOME
SYMPATHETIC COUNTRIES AS FRONTS. IF SUCH ATTEMPTS FAIL, IRAQI
ALTERNATIVES ARE NOT ADEOUATE FOR THEIR NATIONAL REOUIREMENTS.
21. VARIOUS IRAOI INDUSTRIES HAVE WATER TREATMENT CHEMICAL
SAND EQUIPMENT ON HAND, IF THEY HAVE NOT ALREADY BEEN CONSUMED
OR BROKEN. IRAO POSSIBLY COULD CANNIBALIZE PARTS OR ENTIRE
SYSTEMS FROM LOWER TO HIGHER PRIORITY PLANTS, AS WELL AS
DIVERT CHEMICALS,SUCH AS CHLORINE. HOWEVER, THIS CAPABILITY
WOULD BE LIMITED AND TEMPORARY. IRAQ PREVIOUSLY HAD ACQUIRED
SEVERAL HUNDRED CONTAINERIZED REVERSE OSMOSIS MODULES FOR '
LOCALIZED USE THAT COULD BE RELOCATED. WITHOUT CHEMICALS AND
REPLACEMENT MEMBRANES, THESE UNITS WHERE EVENTUALLY WOULD BECOME
USELESS. HOWEVER, CONSOLIDATING CHEMICALS OR CANNIBALIZING
PARTS AND MOVING UNITS WHERE NECESSARY COULD SUSTAIN SOME
PURIFICATION OPERATIONS INDUSTRIAL PLANTS THAT ARE INOPERABLE
FOR REASONS-OTHER THAN THE LACK OF WATER TREATMENT SUPPLIES
COULD PROCESS WATER FOR MUNICIPAL NEEDS OR POSSIBLY RELOCATE
THEIR PURIFICATION EOUIPMENT.
22. THE DIFFERENCE IN WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS LIMITS THE
BENEFITS TO IRAQ OF PLUNDERING KUWAIT'S WATER TREATMENT
CHEMICALS. THE KUWAITIS RELY PRIMARILY ON DESALINATING
SEAWATER, AND THEIR WATER NEEDS ARE CONSIDERABLY SMALLER THAN
IRAQ'S. IRAQ COULD NOT USE CHEMICALS INTENDED FOR KUWAITI
WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS, EXCEPT FOR LIMITED QUANTITIES OF
CHLORINE. ATTEMPTS TO CIRCUMVENT THE SANCTIONS TO OBTAIN WATER
TREATMENT CHEMICALS SUGGEST THAT ANY USEFUL SUPPLIES FROM
KUWAIT ALREADY HAVE BEEN LOOTED AND USED.
23. IRAO HAS INSTALLED A PIPELINE FROM THE DOHA
DESALINIZATION PLANT IN KUWAIT THAT CONNECTS WITH DISTRIBUTION
PIPES AT A WATERTREATMENT PLANT NEAR BASRAH. THIS SOURCE OF
PURE WATER APPARENTLY HAS ENABLED THE PC-I PETROCHEMICAL PLANT
TO OPERATE AND TO PRODUCE CHLORINE BY ELECTROLYSIS OF KUWAITI
WATER MIXED WITH PURE SODIUM CHLORIDE. AT LEAST SOME OF THIS
CHLORINE PROBABLY IS USED FOR MUNICIPAL WATER PURIFICATION,
BUT THE OUANTITY PRODUCED WOULD BE INADEOUATE FOR NATIONAL
REOUIREMENTS. MOREOVER, SOME OF THE CHLORINE PROBABLY IS USED
AT THE PC-I PLANT TO MAKE POLYVINYL CHLORIDES TO CREATE THE
PLASTIC SHEETS USED IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. THE USE OF
KUWAITI WATER PROBABLY WILL NOT LAST LONG SINCE THE DOHA PLANT
USES THE MULTISTAGE FLASH DESALINIZATION PROCESS, WHICH
REOUIRES ACID DOSING OR THE ADDITION OF POLYMERS TO PREVENT
SCALING OF THE HEAT EXCHANGES. THE UN SANCTIONS MAY PREVENT
RESUPPLY OF THESE CHEMICALS. INTENSIVE MAINTENANCE ALSO IS
REOUIRED TO KEEP THE UNITS OPERATING, AND THAT PROBABLY WOULD
REOUIRE THE SERVICES OF TRAINED KUWAITI EMPLOYEES SINCE IRAQ
HAS LITTLE EXPERIENCE WITH MULTISTAGE FLASH UNITS.
24. IRAQ'S BEST SOURCES OF QUALITY WATER ARE IN THE
MOUNTAINS OF THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST, WHERE MINERALIZATION AND
SALINITY ARE WITHIN ACCEPTABLE LIMITS. FOR THE SHORT TERM,
IRAO CONCEIVABLY COULD TRUCK WATER FROM THE MOUNTAIN
RESERVOIRS TO URBAN AREAS. BUT THE CAPABILITY TO GAIN
SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES IS EXTREMELY LIMITED. THE AMOUNT OF PIPE
ON HAND AND THE LACK OF PUMPING STATIONS WOULD LIMIT LAYING
PIPELINES TO THESE RESERVOIRS. MOREOVER, WITHOUT CHLORINE
PURIFICATION, THE WATER STILL WOULD CONTAIN BIOLOGICAL
POLLUTANTS. SOME AFFLUENT IRAQIS COULD OBTAIN THEIR OWN
MINIMALLY ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF GOOD OUALITY WATER FROM NORTHERN
IRAOI SOURCES.IF BOILED, THE WATER COULD BE SAFELY CONSUMED.
POORER IRAQIS AND INDUSTRIES REQUIRING LARGE OUANTITIES OF PURE
WATER WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO MEET THEIR NEEDS.
25. PRECIPITATION OCCURS IN IRAQ DURING THE WINTER AND
SPRING,BUT IT FALLS PRIMARILY IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS.
SPORADIC RAINS,SOMETIMES HEAVY , FALL OVER THE LOWER PLAINS.
BUT IRAQ COULD NOT RELY ON RAIN TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE PURE
WATER.
26. THE SALINE OR ALKALINE CONTENT-OF GROUND WATER IN MOST
LOCATIONS WOULD CONSTRAIN DRILLING WELLS IN THE MESOPOTAMIAN
PLAIN TO OBTAIN PURER WATER MOREOVER, MUCH OF THE POPULATION
USES SEPTIC TANKS, AND THE UNDERLYING GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY
WOULD CONTAMINATE WELLS IN MANY LOCATIONS.))OUTLOOK)
27. IRAQ WILL SUFFER INCREASING SHORTAGES OF PURIFIED
WATER BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF REOUIRED CHEMICALS AND
DESALINIZATION MEMBRANES. INCIDENCES OF DISEASE, INCLUDING
POSSIBLE EPIDEMICS,WILL BECOME PROBABLE UNLESS THE POPULATION
WERE CAREFUL TO BOIL WATER BEFORE CONSUMPTION, PARTICULARLY
SINCE THE SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEM, NEVER A HIGH PRIORITY, WILL
SUFFER THE SAME LOSS OF CAPABILITY WITH THE LACK OF CHLORINE.
LOCALLY PRODUCED FOOD AND MEDICINE COULD BE CONTAMINATED. LACK
OF COAGULATION CHEMICALS WILL CAUSE PERIODIC SHUTDOWNS OF
TREATMENT PLANTS FOR UNCLOGGING AND CLEANING FILTERS, CAUSING
INTERRUPTIONS OF WATER SUPPLIES. AS DESALINIZATION EQUIPMENT
BECOMES INOPERABLE, SALINE WATER SOURCES WILL BECOME
INCREASINGLY UNUSABLE. TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT SHUT DOWNS OF
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS THAT RELY ON TREATED WATER WILL
MULTIPLY.CANNIBALIZING LOWER PRIORITY OPERATIONS WILL
ACCELERATE THE TREND.
28. THE ENTIRE IRAOI WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM WILL NOT
COLLAPSE PRECIPITOUSLY, BUT ITS CAPABILITIES WILL DECLINE
STEADILY AS DWINDLING SUPPLIES INCREASINGLY ARE DIVERTED TO
HIGHER PRIORITY SITES WITH COMPATIBLE EQUIPMENT. KARKH, IRAO'S
LARGEST WATERTREATMENT PLANT (AND ONE OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST),
WAS DESIGNED TO STORE 30 DAYS OF SUPPLIES ON SITE. THE
QUANTITY OF SUPPLIES, IF ANY, NORMALLY STOCKPILED IN
CENTRALIZED WAREHOUSES BEFORE SHIPMENT TO TREATMENT PLANTS IS
UNKNOWN, BUT A 6 MONTH TO I YEAR SUPPLY OF CHEMICALS IS THE
NORMAL INDUSTRIAL PRACTICE. HOWEVER, CURRENT IRAQI EFFORTS TO
OBTAIN CHEMICALS AND MEMBRANES AND THE INSTALLATION OF A
PIPELINE TO OBTAIN PURE KUWAITI WATER SUGGEST THAT THERE WAS
NOT ADEOUATE STOCKPILING PRIOR TO THE INVASION OF KUWAIT. SOME
CHEMICALS ARE DEPLETED OR ARE NEARING DEPLETION, AND OLDER
MEMBRANES ARE NOT BEING REPLACED ON SCHEDULE. CONSEOUENTLY,
IRAQ PROBABLY IS USING UNTREATED OR PARTIALLY TREATED WATER IN
SOME LOCATIONS. FULL DEGRADATION OF THE WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM
PROBABLY WILL TAKE AT LEAST ANOTHER 6 MONTHS.
[ (b)(2) ]
underguy1
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2005
- Posts
- 2,857
You and your intellectual counterpart NeverendingMe wouldn't know a fact if it bit you on the arse.
kimber22
Literotica Betterknower
- Joined
- May 9, 2013
- Posts
- 4,629
you know about the difference of shiite and sunnis?
let me know if you know?
I think you not know...
I think you have no idea...
You wanna play a game with me? I'd love to play a game with you. You put a question about Middle east, and I put a question about middle east...
Now, is that a good game?
underguy1
Literotica Guru
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2005
- Posts
- 2,857
you know about the difference of shiite and sunnis?
let me know if you know?
I think you not know...
I think you have no idea...
You wanna play a game with me? I'd love to play a game with you. You put a question about Middle east, and I put a question about middle east...
Now, is that a good game?
What are you? 12?
I've worked in the middle east, including in Iraq during the sanctions regime, extensively.
It's not a game you racist little retard.
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