# Pipelines and Grid Towers:the pump don't work cause the vandals took the handle **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 9, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419 "2004-06-09T06:42:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419/1 "2004-06-09T06:42:50Z")
> **[THE REACH OF WAR: INSURGENTS' STRATEGY; Saboteurs May Be Aiming at Electrical...](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/world/reach-war-insurgents-strategy-saboteurs-may-be-aiming-electrical-water-sites.html)** > > Enormous power plant south of Baghdad has been shut down by coordinated attacks on fuel and transmission lines, suggesting saboteurs may be targeting major infrastructure to destabilize interim Iraqi government in midst of summer heat (M) we learn per the cite that two successful attacks per day are launched on the electric grid in Iraq pipelines and water supplies are vulnerable the cpa and its successor government pronounce themselves unable to secure the pipelines and wires The Iraqis begged for, and were denied, a helicopter (could you give the brother one, lousy helicoptor, would it kill you to give the brother a break…) It is stated, quite reasonably, and predictably, that continued failure to provide water and power will doom the government. With those facts in mind, I surmise that: Iraqis note that our grids and pipelines appear to be intact, and conclude, not without some justification, that we just don’t give a shit about whether or not they can flush it when they do. Further, it I see no prospect that sufficient resources are available,( or the will to mobilize them is lacking) in anything like sufficiently near term to avoid the predicted governmental collapse (It’s getting hot as we post.) So, please. You who despise me for the defeatist that I am, how will you outflank the guerilla in this trivial (compared to car bombs snuffing government ministers at will) contest. ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419/2 "2004-06-09T07:07:28Z")
**Alaric** , please, for the love of God, take 5 minutes to think stuff through before you say it! You don’t need 10 paragraphs here, capital letters would be handy and your actual contention is cloaked in lines and lines of rambling (“one lousy helicopter”, “you that despise me for the defeatist I am” etc). How 'bout this: > [@Suggested OP](#): > > Check out this [NYT story](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/09/i...ast/09POWE.html). > > It suggests that Iraqis are becoming very irritated at the lack of basic services like water and electricity. It seems the CPA / IGC lacks the ability or the desire to really fix the situation. I think this will lead to a drastic loss of what support these governing bodies have and therefore lead to more unrest and violence. > > All in all, I reckon the situation’s summed up pretty well in a recent [Boondocks cartoon](http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/06/07/). ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419/3 "2004-06-09T20:17:01Z")
> [@lambchops](#): > > **Alaric** , please, for the love of God, take 5 minutes to think stuff through before you say it! You don’t need 10 paragraphs here, capital letters would be handy and your actual contention is cloaked in lines and lines of rambling (“one lousy helicopter”, ?you that despise me for the defeatist I am? etc). > > How 'bout this: always pleased to have an editor who works for free, especially since your restatement shows that I was not clear, even without the chris rock homage. my point is not as you put it, nor quite parallel to the (cute) cartoon. I was raising a strategic guestion which posits the probably fatal disadvantages accruing to the cpa/igc and its clones.offspring,abortions, take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419/4 "2004-06-09T20:46:02Z")
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040609/ap\_on\_re\_mi\_ea/iraq](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=3&u=/ap/20040609/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq) like I said… Saboteurs Blow Up Key Iraqi Pipeline 29 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo! By DANICA KIRKA, Associated Press Writer BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saboteurs blew up a key northern oil pipeline Wednesday, forcing a 10 percent cut on the national power grid as demand for electricity rises with the advent of Iraq (news - web sites)'s broiling summer heat. ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419/5 "2004-06-09T20:48:44Z")
Let me try this more colloquially. There is such a thing as biting off more than you can chew. George Bush is choking on Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![alaricthegoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@alaricthegoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alaricthegoth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419/6 "2006-01-24T04:14:48Z")
> **[DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE: THE ISSUES; Administration Starts Weeklong Blitz in...](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/us/domestic-surveillance-the-issues-administration-starts-weeklong-blitz-in.html)** > > The White House opened a weeklong media blitz Monday in defense of the National Security Agency's eavesdropping program, with President Bush saying he found it ''amazing'' to be accused of breaking the law by ordering a secret program to intercept... "Partly because of sabotage to oil and gas pipelines and electrical transmission lines, Iraq’s oil exports have plummeted over the last several months, and its national electrical output has again dipped below prewar levels. " 24 BILLION DOLLAR LATER, the pump still don’t work… ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2006, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pipelines-and-grid-towers-the-pump-dont-work-cause-the-vandals-took-the-handle/249419/7 "2006-01-24T07:46:37Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Time to put a stake through this one’s heart. And **alaricthegoth** , as a general rule, if your thread has only gotten 5 replies in a year and a half, four of which are from you, bumping it is really not a good idea.