# Power still out in Baghdad?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-still-out-in-baghdad/168228>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 12, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-still-out-in-baghdad/168228 "2003-04-12T07:45:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-still-out-in-baghdad/168228/1 "2003-04-12T07:45:56Z")

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Before the war (or start of hostilities) there was much touting of clever missles that spewed tendrils of metal wires which would short out power plants for a while. Yet it’d be as easy as removing TP from a house the day after Halloween.

Two questions: Some retired general said if the Iraqi’s blew out the transformers - it’d take _years_ to restore power. Why? Can an electrical power grid be so utterly destroyed?

Why aren’t the lights back on in Baghdad?

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-still-out-in-baghdad/168228/2 "2003-04-12T15:01:15Z")

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My understanding from news reports over the last three weeks was that the Coalition was deliberately not targeting power plants, in the interests of avoiding as much chaos as possible, but that inevitably there was a certain amount of collateral damage from bombs exploding and knocking out power lines and other electrical grid infrastructure.

And fixing power lines in Baghdad today offers considerably more challenges than the Wichita Lineman faces when he goes out after an ice storm.

[http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/12/nyt.gordon/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/12/nyt.gordon/index.html)

> [@](#):
>
> INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, near Baghdad, Iraq – If the experience of Lt. Col. Alan King and the reservists in 422nd Civil Affairs Battalion is anything to go by, restoring electric power and rescuing Baghdad from the brink of anarchy will be a dangerous task.
> 
> When sent in to central Baghdad to inspect a transformer, the soldiers had to brave small-arms fire, an attack by paramilitary forces using rocket-propelled grenades and a street deliberately drenched in flammable diesel fuel.
> 
> After two days, and with protection from six Bradley fighting vehicles, Colonel King’s team finally carried out the inspection today.
> 
> \< snip \>
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> Today, Colonel King arranged for six Bradley fighting vehicles to accompany him and his soldiers as they sought again to inspect the transformer. When they approached the site, they noticed that the street was wet with diesel fuel. A fuel tanker was also parked nearby.
> 
> The soldiers were worried that paramilitary forces were laying a trap: the fuel and the fuel truck might be ignited as the Americans drove by, turning the street into a giant firebomb. The American column quickly turned around and left. It finally reached the transformer this afternoon using another route.
> 
> Colonel King said that the transformer was in good shape and that the Iraqi official who was overseeing it said he had arranged for the fuel to be spilled onto the street to discourage unwanted visitors. It was an explanation impossible to verify, but if true, seemed a dangerous, almost desperate measure to achieve a measure of security for the installation.

So they’re working on it.

Baghdad’s a big place, too. Getting power restored to a city of 5,000,000 is considerably different from getting the lights back on in, say, Decatur.

I found this nifty “city comparison” page.  
[http://www.cockeyed.com/citysize/baghdad\_la.html](http://www.cockeyed.com/citysize/baghdad_la.html)

Imagine trying to get the power back on in Los Angeles, say after the Big One hits, but with people shooting at you.

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**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-still-out-in-baghdad/168228/3 "2003-04-12T17:45:30Z")

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I (dimly) remember hearing the folks on the local radio news station saying that wholesale looting of the equipment in the power plants was a major factor as well.