Sharon’s attack on Syria Soured Plan to provide Electricity to Iraq
A deal for Syria to provide electricity to northern Iraq in return for exports of Iraqi petroleum, worked out by Colin Powell with Bashar al-Asad, was derailed by the Israeli bombing of an alleged terror training camp in Syria, for which President Bush essentially expressed his support. This according to al-Sharq al-Awsat.
I remember seeing reports of the plan, and then one heard nothing more of it. Since Iraq needs 6000 megawatts of energy daily, but can generate only 3500 or so max itself, such acquisition of electricity from neighbors like Syria could have been extremely important to restoring services and helping the economy in war-ravaged Iraq. Bush is so enamored of the macho preemptive strike that he cannot see how it destroys all sorts of essential international relationships. Severe doubts have been raised about whether the camp Israel hit was in fact as Sharon described it; in any case, it was a minor affair, and whatever Sharon gained in machismo wasn’t worth Iraqi children shivering through the winter in Kirkuk and Sulaymaniya. Thanks again, Arik.