IRAQ

Aljazeera: Iraq: Still in the dark

Ten months after the occupation of Iraq in April 2003, the electricity
service has still not been fully restored. The Iraqi capital, Baghdad,
still suffers irregular electricity flow. Each district in the capital
has to live without electricity for at least six hours a day.

The situation is in stark contrast with what happened after the 1991
Gulf War which left the main Iraqi electrical power stations in ruins. It
took the then Iraqi government three months to restore electricity to its
pre-war level.

"First of all, Iraqi power plants are German, Russian, and French made,
but the US are insisting on assigning technicians from the US company
Bechtel to assess Iraq's electrical power stations. Second, they are insisting
on buying equipment from Bechtel, while the main stations in Iraq are not
made in USA."