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There is a powerful symbolism in the impending collapse of Iraq’s Mosul dam. Built on the cheap by Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s, it holds back up to 2.9 trillion gallons, roughly twice as much as Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. We all know what happened when Hurricane Katrina breached the levees around Pontchartrain’s south shore in 2005. No hurricane is needed to breach the Mosul dam. Built on a weak foundation of soluble gypsum, its stability has always depended on continuous grouting. In 2007 the US Army Corps of Engineers, alarmed by what they had found after the...

Summary The Mosul Dam in Iraq could collapse at any time, causing massive flooding across the country. Iraq produces over four million barrels of oil per day, a number which will drop immediately when this event occurs. The destruction of oil production in Iraq will immediately decrease world supply, lifting oil prices.

Iraqi engineers involved in building the Mosul dam 30 years ago have warned that the risk of its imminent collapse and the consequent death toll could be even worse than reported. They pointed out that pressure on the dam’s compromised structure was building up rapidly as winter snows melted and more water flowed into the reservoir, bringing it up to its maximum capacity, while the sluice gates normally used to relieve that pressure were jammed shut. The Iraqi engineers also said the failure to replace machinery or assemble a full workforce more than a year after Islamic State temporarily held...

Iraq's Mosul Dam Could Collapse, Causing 'Catastrophic' Destruction, Says U.S. General U.S. commander in Iraq warns of looming disaster if weak dam fails: 'In the U.S., we would have drained the lake behind it.' The top U.S. general in Iraq warned Thursday of the potential collapse of Mosul Dam in the country's north, saying such an event could prove "catastrophic." The U.S.-led coalition is still determining the likelihood the hydroelectric dam could collapse but has developed a contingency plan alongside the Iraqi government, said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces guarding Mosul dam News / Kurdistan Peshmerga Bring Mosul Dam Back Online 22.09.2014 Hoshmand SadiqBasNews, Erbil After retaking control of it in the middle of August, Kurdish Peshmerga forces, have re-activated Mosul Dam. “On Monday Peshmerga forces re-activated Mosul Dam and brought all  employees, engineers and experts back to work,” the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) official in Mosul Saed Mamuzini told BasNews. “The dam now provides water and electricity to local residents. A large number of villagers, refugees and as some other towns around will be benefit,” he added. Mosul Dam is one of the biggest...

Both Iraq and Kurdish Peshmerga forces have claimed a rare victory over ISIS this morning, the first in many months of setbacks and collapses. According to both, the Iraqi flag flies once more over the Mosul Dam, a critical piece of infrastructure and a potential time bomb that could kill as many as 500,000 Iraqis if destroyed: Iraqi state television reported Monday that Iraqi national and Kurdish “peshmerga” forces had retaken the key Mosul dam from Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but the fighting didn’t appear to be over.If confirmed, reclamation of the...

Iraqi and Kurdish forces claimed Monday that they ejected Islamic State fighters from a strategically vital dam in northern Iraq, after waves of U.S. airstrikes scattered the radical Islamist militants in the biggest push yet to reverse their blitz through the country. Fighting continued on the western bank of the lake at the head of the Mosul Dam, and government troops were unable to enter the facility because it was booby-trapped by the retreating militants, officials said. But the officials claimed that Islamic State fighters were on the run after the offensive launched by Iraqi special forces and Kurdish pesh...

By Associated Press August 17 at 9:08 AMIRBIL, Iraq — An Iraqi security official says Kurdish forces have taken over parts of the country’s largest dam, which was captured by the Islamic State extremist group earlier this month.Gen. Tawfik Desty told The Associated Press that peshmerga forces backed by Iraqi and U.S. warplanes started the operation to retake Mosul Dam early Sunday.Desty, a commander with the Kurdish forces at the dam, which was seized on Aug. 7, said they now control the eastern part of the dam and that fighting is still underway.

Last week, the barbaric Islamic State (IS) seized the vitally important Mosul dam, dramatically impacting tactical options against them and potentially changing the future of the Middle East. * snip * Since the dam was completed in the mid-1980’s it has required continuous (daily) maintenance, because it was built on top of gypsum, a soft mineral which dissolves when in contact with water. More than 50,000 tons of materials have been injected into the dam since 1986. The ‘sink hole’ type of cavities that constantly form have to be expeditiously plugged with “grout”, a liquefied mixture of cement and other...

Fighters with the militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria reached the triangle border between Iraq, Syria and Turkey, it said in a message posted on Twitter on Sunday. ISIS took control of Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam on Iraq's Tigris River, which provides power to the city of Mosul about 50 kilometers (31 miles) to the south, the commander of the Peshmerga Kurdish fighters who had been defending the facility said Sunday. The dam workers remained inside the facility, which fell after a 24-hour battle, Lt. Col. Herash said. SNIP----- "If you control the Mosul Dam, you can...

Peshmerga forces fighting IS Militants near Mosul News / Kurdistan Mosul MPs: Peshmerga Will Liberate The City Soon 10.08.2014    BasNews, Baghdad   Representatives of Mosul in the Iraqi Parliament have declared that with Peshmerga assistance, their city will be freed soon from Islamic State (IS) Militants.   In a press conference in Baghdad, Iraqi MPs from Mosul in Northern Iraq, talked about the current crisis and the clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and IS Insurgents.   The also criticized the Iraqi central government for remaining silent on the situation of their city and not providing assistance to the...

U.S. warplanes carried out airstrikes in northern Iraq near ISIS-controlled Mosul Dam early Saturday morning, the Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported, citing eyewitnesses. CNN confirmed that a U.S. and Iraqi military operation aimed at retaking the country's largest hydroelectric dam from the so-called Islamic State was scheduled to begin early Saturday morning (Friday at 6 p.m. ET). The operation was to begin with U.S. and Iraqi airstrikes against ISIS positions, with Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces following up on the ground. U.S. fighter jets began carrying out the strikes early Saturday morning local time, Rudaw reported

Kurdistan US Jets Strike Multiple IS Positions Around Mosul 7 hours ago ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—US fighter jets launched a bombing campaign against positions of the Islamic State (IS) near Mosul dam and surrounding towns shortly after midnight on Friday, Rudaw reporter said. The jets have bombed IS positions in four areas near the dam as well as in Rabia crossing, Mahmoudia, Telskouf, Zumar and Tilkef. A Peshmerga eyewitness said this is the heaviest US bombing of militant positions since the start of airstrikes against the Islamist group last week. Rudaw reporter Hevidar Ahmed said that a gas station used by...

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News Saturday, 16 August 2014 Kurdish troops backed by U.S. warplanes launched a bid Saturday to recapture Mosul dam, Iraq’s largest, from militants, a senior Kurdish military official said. “Kurdish peshmerga, with U.S. air support, have seized control of the eastern side of the dam” complex, Major General Abdelrahman Korini told AFP. “We killed several members of Daash. We are still advancing and in the coming hours should announce welcome news,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group. Witnesses said the air strikes...

If , as some reports suggest, Islamic State forces have seized Mosul Dam, they might have stumbled on a weapon exponentially more powerful than any U.S.-made armored vehicle or Soviet-era anti-aircraft gun. The Mosul Dam is Iraq’s largest dam and with its shoddy construction could, if destabilized, affect the lives of Iraqis as far south as Baghdad. Located on Mosul Lake the facility provides electricity and irrigation to surrounding areas. “If the dam fails, scientists say, Mosul could be completely flooded within hours and a 15-foot wall of water could crash into Baghdad,” Keith Johnson wrote in a Foreign Policy...