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Subscribe to RSSPhotojournalist Kael Alford spent 10 months covering the invasion of Iraq and its immediate aftermath in 2003-2004. She returned this summer to see what has and hasn’t changed as the U.S. prepared to withdraw its troops.
By Kael Alford
If there is one issue that symbolizes the difficulties and political turmoil that have beset Iraq over the last decade, it is the country’s electrical system.
Kael Alford / Panos Pictures
A generator in Sadr City, Baghdad, July 2011.
While the nation of 29 million people is rich in oil, which generates revenue of nearly $2 billion a week, the government has not been able to translate that river of cash into a steady flow of electrical current from its power plants to homes and businesses. According to the Iraqi government’s figures, the grid currently meets 50 percent of demand or less, depending on the region.
USAID and other international organizations have invested billions of dollars to try to improve the battered system, and progress has been made. But as an October 2009 USAID report noted, such efforts are hampered by the continuing “looting of cables, destruction of high-tension towers and sabotage of fuel lines. … Decades of operation without regular maintenance have resulted in increased breakdown and a need for significant rehabilitation.”
The dire state of the official grid has given rise to a perilous patchwork by the private sector to keep the lights and other appliances on.
Kael Alford / Panos Pictures
Cables reach to a generator on the outskirts of Baghdad, July 2011.
On a typically sweaty July afternoon in Baghdad, as temperatures hovered around 113 degrees, I met a 40-year-old freelance electrician named Majid, who was making the rounds at private residences in the Karrada district. He was installing a second-hand air conditioner for a woman whose “swamp cooler,” which functions by blowing air across a reservoir of water, wasn’t working because the city water had been cut for two days. Majid had been an electrician in Saddam’s elite Republican Guard, and was wearing U.S. military issue boots with thick rubber soles to guard against getting electrocuted while he worked. His only other protection was a pair of pliers with plastic handles. Regardless of these precautions, he said he’s been shocked many times. He said these days Iraqis were all doing their own maintenance work on the city wiring in their neighborhoods and he was one of the best-employed men around.
Kael Alford / Panos Pictures
Majid, a 40-year-old freelance electrician, works on the makeshift neighborhood wiring while a young local resident holds his ladder this summer.
He waxed nostalgic about the electricity supply under Saddam, which was already inadequate. “Then there were only 2 hours in the day and 2 hours at night without power, and we were complaining! We even had one day when there was electricity all day.” With a half-joking expression he says that people used to complain about Saddam Hussein, “but these days we say, ‘God be Merciful. Let those days come back again!’”
He works from 9 in the morning until 9 or 10 at night and doesn’t ask anyone for a fixed price. He says he’ll accept whatever his neighbors can pay. “The whole neighborhood depends on me and I’m getting tired,” he said.
In addition to freelance electricians, each neighborhood in Iraq hosts a private generator to augment the official electrical supply. Cables erupt from crude concrete or aluminum buildings containing the thrumming generators and converge and tangle in chaotic knots before finally plunging into homes and businesses. It’s the same in big cities, small towns and even some squatters' camps, all over the country.
The uninsulated cables often stretch and sag, particularly in the summer, triggering fires when they touch one another.
Experts say it’s no secret what the problems are: The Iraqi electrical grid is unstable, hampered by war-torn infrastructure that forces implementation of blackouts to prevent it from crashing entirely; demand that has steadily increased since the 2003 U.S. invasion; and incompetence and massive corruption at the highest levels of the government.
Kael Alford / Panos Pictures
Electric cables to private generators hang above a street in the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad, July 2011.
In August, Iraqis learned that Minister of Electricity Ra’as Shalal al-Ani had tendered $1.7 billion in contracts to a shell Canadian company and a German company that had gone bankrupt, prompting Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to request his resignation and leading to a corruption investigation.
And that may be only the beginning. An International Crisis Group report released in September said that in 2011 the Integrity Commission and the Board of Supreme Audit, two oversight bodies in Iraq, identified hundreds of such shell companies abroad linked to senior government officials in the Defense Ministry and Maliki’s office.
More from the series:
Introduction: As U.S. withdraws, the people speak
For 'the Sheik,' U.S. pullout is cause for alarm
Patchwork electrical grid a symbol of country's disconnects
A new day for culture and consumer goods
For women, freedoms under fire
Suspicious minds in a squatters' camp
Colonel helped with the ‘Surge,’ then his past came calling
Related stories:
Troops come home to families’ delight
Koppel: Is the U.S. really leaving Iraq?
Engel: A look a the US bases, Iraqi troops and other legacies of the US presence
Leave a Comment:
Iraq had a 220 volt 50 Hz national power system before we wiped it all out with e-bombs. During the occupation, we only allowed the construction of incompatible 120V 60 Hz infrastructure in order to force everyone in the country to buy new Chinese-made appliances from Bush/Cheney crony companies.
Go US and A!
Could you post some links that have information on your claims? I'd like to read about it. I somewhat doubt the validity of them but I really don't put anything past our government and its idiocy.
Actually, that may be a good thing then Clark. Or did you miss how much China is held in high esteem, with Iraq, Iran,Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
But what wattage does China actually use???
We bombed their infrastructure , remember ? All these sorties weren't for nothing. Bush and Cheney should be in jail for orchestrating 9/11 that got us into Iraq War in the first place. Oh, I forgot , the WAR CRIMINALS got themselves IMMUNITY from our stupid Congress-now Bush , Chaney ,Rumsfeld are ABOVE the LAW and because the Supreme Court is in the pocket of the 1%. there is no justice . The 99 % bleeds, pays the bills till broke and the 1% just richer.
@ Joe; Please take the tin foil off, no wait leave it on.
Germany.the U.K,Japan,Russia,Germany, Have all had their infrastructure bombed, time heals all wounds, as time will heal Iraq's electrical grid.I would rather be free from tyranny, and have less electricity, than live under tyranny and have it all day.
Looks like they need to just take evrything out and start over, city by city. Take the old lines out as they go, and replace them at a pace so the service interruptions are not to long.
Wow between "Clark_Nova and good ol' "Joe" there...we have no shortage of conspiracy theories. I mean cmon you theorists...DO YOU REALLY think Iraq had a first class infrastructure...ok how bout even a 3rd class? Like "Coral Taxi" says make sure you have your foil hats on and the windows are covered with foil as well
Joe! Get the professional help you so desperately need. For that compulsive Bush Cheney Rumsfeld syndrome you suffer from. You moronic ignoramus loons sound like a broken record. Gets old nut case.
Yes time does, but think about a neighbor who get electric nuclear power and makes friends with them by setting up a new power grid.
Coral Taxi - You would rather be "free from tyranny" than have electricity, but I don;t think you are writing from a 115 degree room. With Christians either dead or fleeing for their lives, and Sunnis and Shiites more and more isolated from each other, and people afraid to move around like to used to, your whole "free from tyranny" argument loses its force.
@capn: Live free or die, brother. How much force has that argument had, over the centuries? Iraq is far from perfect, at least now they have a say in who runs their country, and all groups are represented.
The only tyranny they suffer now is from the remnants of Al queada whom try to unsuccessfully fan the flames of sectarian violence, by bombing innocents at churches, and market places. thank God so far to no avail. Not their leaders, try to follow along here.lol
Sunnis and Shiites have lived side by side in peace for hundreds of years, of course not without their flare ups. But every country including ours has those.
People are not afraid to move around in Ieaq. There is less violence today(albeit still to much)than when they were on the brink of civil war.
Einstein - Bush Cheney Rumsfeld cost thousands of lives, American and Iraqi, Muslim and Christian, by not, once they decided to have a war, going in with overwhelming force and planning for the tail end of this mess. I don't, seriously, know how they sleep at night, but I'm sure they do very well.
As how many lives will be taken in that nice little congress unimproved war (along with Obama-care....). Good night almighty Obama. 1012 is just around the corner.
Well,ok, I am an electrician and I look at pictures like this and I say...Ohhh man<wiping brow>..Yes Iraq is 220/380 volt 50 Hz as is most of the Arabian region,but first off....Wheres the high tension lines? I C a lot of local people tappin off the street transformers(thats why the net of wires above the streets,they either lead to street xfmrs or private generators)without any metering,lol...I see they have 3 phase from the first picture but man..Siemens or GE or ABB needs to send some salespeople to the Iraqi ministry just as they're doing in India,but in the meantime I'll upload some Triplex type cable to help out with that massive hammock above the streets,lol
@ dave; So would just taking this 220/380 whatever system out, completely and starting over does that look like the thing they need to do.What a rats nest of wires.
LMAO...if we wanted to help Iraq we should have moved everyone out and bulldozed the entire place and used THEIR oil money to start over...I mean your being an electrician and can see all that's wrong in a 2D photo, can you imagine how in the world they haven't burnt their own country down long before now. My thinking is once the "coalition" hit the ground and saw this stuff they just threw their arms up and moved out of town and set up their own infrastructure
And how much of our tax money was given to Haliburton to rebuild Iraq?
As much as they could steal and not a penny more.
OH HELL and we complain that our "Blackberries" aren't receiving or our internet is slow?!! Try setting up in Iraq...They're called "Third World" for a reason
The US has provided ample time, personnel and money to rebuild the system. The problem is, the US always had to employ Iraqis to do everything as a jobs program, which led to massive corruption and theft.
That'll teach those rag headed camel jokeys to mess with us. They wanted to blow up the World Trade Center okay, we fixed their wagon but good.
Right. Iraqis involved in 911. You're an idiot and an uninformed idiot at that.
Here comes another one, Mensa.
Oh my think of the voltage drop of all those cables!
Voltage drop hell-on any given day my electricity can be as high as 130 volts- I cant even use an electric alarm clock as it runs almost twice as fast as normal even after only ten minutes plugged in.
And all over Mexico they still use only a TWO wire system with the third ground wire missing. Buying a gold bar, is easier to buy than a three wire extension cord or wall plug in Home Depot in Mexico
If they have $2 billion a week coming in, they have the $ to pay for this. If they are corrupt, that is their problem. Whole invasion was an awful mistake, but that is history now.
I would say they put in 120 volt 60 hz because that's what we have. I don't know how that forces anyone to use Chinese appliances. That's probably just what military people are used to dealing with.
They used Chinese appliances because that's all Haliburton et al would sell to them. Biggest profit margin for the corporations while doing NOTHING for the US. If they had set up the old 220/50 system that everyone already owned appliances for, the people could have obtained new replacements from multiple sources in the Middle East at a much lower price.
I really doubt that we switched everything over to 120/60. They (Halliburton) would make just as much money sticking with the 220/50 system they already had. On the other hand, even if we did force them to buy all new appliances, where the hell else would they get them, other than China? 99? of the appliances we buy in America are made in China. and that goes for all countries that use 220/50 as well.
Surprised they aren't going to shoot these energy ministers. I mean, that's what Saddam would do (while channeling the largesse to himself).
Yeah, just repeating, all that damned money we scrimpin americans paid
to h-burton n kbr just to put it up their noses...
These ragheads are nothing more than useless FKS..Why we are there is beyond me...because after years of watching what they do..they are all useless!!! FK UM let um all die!!!
when you look at this @!$%#...how in the world do you call this a country worth fighting for?????????????WTF???????????????
What a useless waste of a piece of this Planet!!!
this is a perfect picture of all the tax sucking government workers that are destroying this great United States of America!!!!
id10t this is the work of Halliburton et al not federal employees == what a f'in m o r o n.
WTF......... even South Sacramento, CA. ain't this fkn bad!!!!!!!! and it is seriously fkd up!!!
With a 2,000,000,000 dollar a week income stream they can hire some group to fix this. Why should I care? My government is bouncing checks.
makes mexico look like a first world country lol
Their bringing in $2 billion a week in oil revenues and the US has to pay for this? What is wrong with our government and their policies?
This makes me sick, in the US we're laying off school teachers and cops, but we're paying to rebuild Iraq.
God will be paying back each and EVERY Bush supporter for the devastation you have wrought to the 30 million people of Iraq. Burn in h e ll GOP.
Judgement day should be interesting.
What a mess. Sheesh!
Looks like anytown Mexico- Next time your in Puerto Vallarta "Old Town" look UP.
supposedly only 15% of all electrical connections in MX are legal.
It is sad that these people have lived with corruption and ineptitude for so long under Sadam that given the chance to do things differently they continue to accept corruption as a way of life .... wait a minute, looking at our Congress and the fact that we've allowed it to be controlled by lobbyist and big money I guess I shouldn't be judging them so harshly.
They can thank Cheney and His contractor from the Halliburton Company for pocketing the money amongst themselves at the expence of the Iraqies and the American Taxpayer.