Derelict Power Plant Symbol of Iraq Woes
By LAUREN FRAYER, Associated Press Writer
4 hours ago
YOUSSIFIYAH, Iraq - A giant smokestack looms over the green pastures and lazily flowing canals south of Baghdad. There is no smoke _ just the sense of lost economic potential and an uncertain future.
Saddam Hussein promised the Youssifiyah power plant would serve homes across a 330-square-mile stretch of Iraq. Instead, the derelict compound has served as an insurgent stronghold, and is now a makeshift base for 300 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers.
President Bush has proposed boosting U.S. economic aid to Iraq by $1.2 billion this year. But an assessment last year by U.S. engineers says reviving the Youssifiyah project _ still only 20 percent built _ may be beyond the capabilities of the fledgling Iraqi government.
Still, Army Col. John Valledor, who oversees the site, said the plant could bring safety and stability to this Sunni Muslim region and former pro-Saddam stronghold.
"I'd love to see this power plant revitalized, so that the local populace can be weaned off supporting the terrorists and get back into the business of building their future," said Valledor, 44, who commands the U.S. Army's 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.
"Just cleaning up the site, I could employ hundreds of Iraqis for months," said Valledor, a Weehawken, N.J. native.
Iraqi unemployment is thought to be as high as 60 percent, and inflation above 50 percent. Reducing unemployment might help end the violence, but the violence cuts into any hope of getting the power plant rebuilt.
Mortars fired across the Euphrates river slam into the plant about twice daily, soldiers said. Last month a sniper killed a U.S. soldier. Days later a sniper's bullet tore through the helmet of a U.S. soldier on guard duty, grazing his head.
"Our vision is dictated by security. We can't pour money into anything we can't sustain," said Capt. Trevor Smith, 30, of Shelby Township, Mich., who is with the 413th civil affairs battalion.
The violence of the surrounding area was made famous on the Internet last summer. The Youssifiyah power plant is in the background of a Web video showing the torture of two American soldiers kidnapped at a checkpoint nearby. Their burned bodies, one decapitated, were dropped at the plant's front gates.
Valledor and his men seized the compound in a nighttime raid in October. In the early dawn light, they stumbled across cages they believe were used for torture by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al-Qaida in Iraq until an American bomb killed him last June. Graffiti on the steel beams says "Long live Saddam!" and lists the names and dates of "martyrs" and their suicide missions.
"When insurgents ruled this 'castle,' as we call it, the message was nothing but evil," Valledor said. "Now the locals see U.S. and Iraqi forces here, and the message can be one of safety and prosperity."
The steel and cement structure stretches along about 1 1/2 miles of a fertile belt by the meandering Euphrates. It is the largest building in a 100-mile radius.
Construction began in August 2001, as a joint venture by Saddam's government and TechnoPromExport (TPE), a Russian company. Originally scheduled for completion last year, it would have produced 1,680 megawatts of electricity, according to an engineering assessment by the 4th Infantry Division in May 2006.
But work was halted for lack of money even before the U.S. invasion of 2003, the report said. Afterward the facility was looted and taken over by extremists.
Lt. Hani Raysan, 36, one of 70 Iraqi troops who live at the plant, said he has technology and engineering degrees and hopes to help revitalize the site.
"I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think so," he said. "But we can't do it without the U.S."
Since 2003, the U.S. government has spent $2.7 billion to add 2,093 megawatts of generating capacity in Iraq, the General Accountability Office reported last month.
But Iraq's Electricity Ministry estimates $27 billion more is needed, and meanwhile, Iraqis have power for only part of the day.
The American military spends more than $100 billion annually for the war, but new U.S. reconstruction aid has dwindled to $750 million in the current fiscal year. Bush's proposed addition is only about a quarter of the $5 billion recommended by former Secretary of State James A. Baker's Iraq Study Group.
The soldiers here are convinced money for Youssifiyah would be well spent.
If Iraqis get jobs here, "they won't take a one-time payment to plant a bomb. They'll opt for the long-term income instead," said 1st Lt. Christopher Russo, 24, from Clifton, Va. He is also part of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division.
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