Quote Originally Posted by Rob Thornton View Post
Picked this out of the Earlybird yesterday. A twist to the Powell "Pottery Barn" metaphor - you inherit all kinds of things when you change a regime. While I was in Mosul we had considered many "what ifs", and the dam was one of them as so far it related to sabotage of its electrical generation capability. However, this one is new to me. I think this also speaks volumes to the spectrum involved in the "3 block war" and the types of challenges we find there.
There were days in 94 during the refugee crisis when Tom and I hoped the stratovolcano Nyiragongo would bust a gutt (so long as we were more than 5 clicks above sea level).

Earlybird indeed !

Our counsel member Merv already had the goods on the 7th

There is however a bit of missing water...about 4 million cubic meters

"The dam was constructed on a foundation of marls, soluble gypsum, anhydrite, and karstic limestone that are continuously dissolving," said specialists at the US embassy in a statement. "The dissolution creates an increased risk for dam failure."

In fact the state of the two-mile long earthfill dam, which holds back some eight billion cubic metres of water in Iraq's largest reservoir, has recently been deteriorating at ever-increasing speed.
Nice Blog, Merv !