Iraqi Ministry Doctors Figures on Power Output

By Isam al-Khalisi, Azzaman. Posted April 10, 2008.

It is lie, lie, lie. That has been the world of Iraq before and after U.S. invasion troops landed in the land of Twin Rivers.

The stream of lies has been flowing without interruption and it is no longer the exclusive property of the White House and U.S. administration of Iraq.

It has infected all branches of Iraqi government U.S. invasion troops have installed to govern the country. It is no longer a matter of weapons of mass destruction or former regime's ties with al-Qaeda.

It concerns all aspects of life and the last institution to enter the fray has been the Ministry of Electricity.

The figures given by the ministry on power output have been doctored for reasons which perhaps nobody can fathom.

After a lot of bragging and boasting by the U.S. and Iraqi government that the ministry has exceeded output figures prevalent in the months before the invasion we are now to learn that was yet another big lie.

Total power production, Electricity Ministry officials reveal, has never broken the record set by the former regime when still under punitive U.N. trade sanctions.

Power output currently available to Iraqis is still at least 10 percent less than what was available in the three months before the U.S. invasion.

So the 'new Iraq' has never been able to beat the nearly 5,000 megawatts that were produced before the coming of the Americans.

Maximum output in the years since the U.S. invasion has been in the range of 4,700 megawatts despite the surge in demand.

The ministry doctored the figures by adding power imports of nearly 300 megawatts to domestic output and some other figures which only God knows why and how they were added to announce that production had surpassed 6,000 megawatts.

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