Little was left untouched in the 1991 bombing of Iraq
April 4, 2007
In 1991, the U.S. military virtually wiped Iraq off the map. At the end of 42 days and nights of bombing,
little of the country’s infrastructure was left undamaged. But, the U.S. administration did not anticipate the miraculous
rebound Iraq would make in the first couple of years following the country’s annihilation..
Bush thought the destruction of tens of thousands of buildings (including 4,000 schools and 20,000 houses),
as well as rendering useless the sewage, electricity, and water facilities in Iraq would bring the Iraqis to their knees.
When that did not work, he put a noose around the country to stop anything from entering. Still, the Iraqis stood proud. As
a last resort, Bush ordered the destruction of their crops, but the Iraqis did not succumb.
The defiance of the Iraqi people became evident and Bush experienced another setback in his imperialistic
plans — the Iraqi people were rebuilding their country at a fast pace with no outside help.
An article called "The Wrong Conclusion," from the Baghdad Observer of July 19, 1992 explained Bush’s
quandary:
When the cease-fire was announced in the U.S.-led aggression against Iraq, boastful U.S. politicians appeared
on TV networks around the world to say that they have achieved what had been meant to be a deadly blow to roll Iraq back to
a pre-industrial era.
During the U.S.-led aggression, the unprecedented 30-state coalition embarked on destroying almost all of
the country’s infrastructure, including water and power supply networks which bore the brunt of assiduous air attacks.
Consequently, all that had been the pivot of Iraq’s life system had come to a standstill …
… U.S. experts and technicians placed their bets and succeeded in misleading the world into believing
that it would not be less than 10 years before Iraq could re-operate its war-torn power plants or provide its people with
potable water.
But to the 30-country coalition’s disappointment, Iraq’s relentless drive of reconstruction dubbed
all ill-put calculations as wrong. Within the span of less than one year, 90 percent of Iraq’s pre-war generation capacity
was restored and the war-devastated oil industry came back to normal at a speed which surprised all its enemies. What was
intended to be a complete collapse surely backfired …
… Power alone will surely fail to justify U.S. actions as the world policeman. As the battle is not
over yet, determination to counterbalance the Western hegemony is the only way for freedom-seeking countries to destroy the
myth of the stick-wielding superpower.
Make no mistake: there was nothing easy about Iraq’s rebuilding. The embargo was in place and Iraq could
import nothing, not even a nail or screw. Despite this anomaly, ingenuity prevailed as Iraqi engineers devised ways of using
spare or damaged parts for the country’s reconstruction efforts.
By June 1992, progress had been made in the repairing of sewage and water systems. In the same month, it was
reported that engineers and technicians were working around the clock to repair water networks as well as tackling the shortages
of running water. Director-General of the Water and Sewage Department, Dr. Adnan Aziz Jabro, stated that big strides were
being made in maintaining and modifying drinking water networks, relying 100 percent on Iraqi expertise.
Jabro said that in the first half of 1992, the capacity of waste water treatment plants in Baghdad had escalated
to more than 20,000 cubic meters a day. He added that plastic pipes had been laid down for rain and sewage water in Baghdad.
In addition to repairing damaged parts of the network in Baghdad, some 210 water reservoirs were installed.
Several thousand meters of raw water networks also had been installed since the end of Desert Storm.
By September 1992, all reconstruction programs were in full swing. The Ministry of Transport and Communications
formed four committees to address the maintaining, repairing and manufacturing replacement parts of the transport and communication
system.
Some 5,000 telephone lines of the al-Sahiya Telephone Exchange and 5,000 others of the Bab al-Mu’adham
Exchange had been repaired by September 1992. Both exchanges were totally destroyed during the bombing of Desert Storm.
By the end of 1992, repairs were almost complete on the major microwave communications systems in Iraq. Outside
experts had predicted that it would have taken many more years to achieve the repairs made to the Iraqi microwave systems.
Iraq’s ingenious methods enabled the country to get back up and running, although at a lesser degree
of efficiency than prior to Desert Storm. Only Iraqi parts and Iraqi labor were used in the reconstruction. Two U.S. administrations
were baffled by the resurrection of Iraqi society.
Despite the miraculous recovery of Iraq after Desert Storm, the embargo began to erode the repair work. Once
replacement parts were worn out, there were no replacement parts for them. But, until March 2003, Iraq experienced a functional
society.
Let’s compare the Iraqi repairing of the damage inflicted in 1991 to that of the U.S.-led team in 2003.
Within two months of the cease-fire in 1991, most of Iraq was again electrified. Within four years of the March 2003 U.S.
invasion, most of Iraq has electricity for only a few hours a day, sometimes only a few hours a week. The U.S. has no embargo
against it and it is the richest country in the world. Yet, it could not do in four years what Iraq did in one year to repair
the country.
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