February 2016
The Mosul Dam was built on the Tigris River in Iraq,
standing with a height of 131 meters and width of 3,400 meters. The maximum
water reserving capacity of this dam is 12 billion cubic meters and it cost
$1.5 billion at the time and was inaugurated in 1985. Local and international
reports have time and again in the past years warned on the possibility of the
Mosul Dam crumbling. What is the truth of these warnings and why have such
possibilities been raised of the dam crumbling: the first reason is the Mosul
Dam was essentially constructed on unstable grounds, and is in need of constant
strengthening efforts by injecting cement into its foundation to prevent a
possible crumbling. The U.S. Army has described this as the most dangerous dam
in the world.
According to news published in Iraqi media recent
U.S. President Barack Obama made a telephone call with Iraqi Prime Minister
Haider al-Abadi discussing the possibility the Mosul Dam crumbling leading him
to have nightmares and bad dreams.
A “conspiracy theory” is being considered on the
measures that can be taken to confront this threat. Following the arrival of
U.S. special forces in the Rabiye and al-Ya’rabiye regions of Mosul and talks
of around 400 Italian troops arriving under the pretext of protecting an
Italian company in charge of preserving the dam, and Turkish forces entering
the Ba’shiqe area in Mosul – whom are a part of the NATO forces – means that
NATO has begun occupying Iraq from the north, the Iraqi Prime Minister said.
Many parties in Iraq will confront such actions, most importantly the ‘Popular
Mobilization Forces’ and armed Shiite groups, al-Abadi added.
Iskandar Vetutu, a member of the Iraqi Parliament Defense
and Security Commission from the State of Law coalition – Maliki’s party –
accused the United States of attempting to station its forces in the Mosul Dam
under the pretext of the crumbling crisis.
“If U.S. forces station in the Mosul Dam they will
never pull out and no one will be able to force the Turkish forces out of Iraqi
soil,” he said, going on to emphasize on the necessity to have experts from
neighboring countries, and especially Iran, to help repair and preserve the
Mosul Dam.
All Shiite militias and pro-Iran elements inside the
Iraqi government have in one voice strongly opposed U.S. presence to protect
and repair the Mosul Dam. They have gone as far as calling for the Iranian
regime to repair the dam. Remarks made by Vetut clearly shows who is
orchestrating the policy of opposing the presence of the United States and
European countries to repair the Mosul Dam. Iran has rallied all its elements
inside Iraq, including Shiite militias and associated MPs to oppose the presence
of the United States and foreign companies, to thus prepare the grounds for its
own part in this ordeal. All parties know very well the Iranian regime lacks
the any such expertise and technical assets needed in this enormous task. It is
not clear the Iraqi Shiite militias and Iran-associated MPs are seeking the
interests of their own country, or pursuing a policy dictated by the Iranian
regime.
The Mosul Dam crumbling poses a threat for a number
of Iraqi cities, the first being Mosul, with the east part of the city being
wiped off the face of the map within a few hours. Add Tikrit to the list as
water will flood half of the city. Further downstream will be Samara. In
Baghdad water will rise to four meters, leading to a major environmental,
humanitarian and economic catastrophe.
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