Sunday Tasmanian April 06, 2003
Blackout set to raise pressure
THE shut-off of Baghdad's electricity and water supply foreshadows a potential humanitarian crisis that could overwhelm coalition forces, say military and relief agency experts.
The scenario was not just of one but of many nightmares -- food riots, disease, suicide bombers and many civilian casualties in the city of more than five million -- said Patrick Garrett, an associate analyst at Globalsecurity.org, a Virginia-based think-tank.
"Nothing up to now has been as difficult as this is likely to be," he said.
"What you have is the making of a humanitarian catastrophe," said Sid Balman, spokesman for InterAction, an umbrella group of 165 relief organisations.
Baghdad went dark on Thursday for the first time since the war began, just as spearhead troops of the US 3rd Infantry Division closed in on the international airport on the capital's southwestern outskirts.
US officials denied targeting the electric grid.
"We didn't do it. It's as simple as that,"' said Vincent Brooks, chief spokesman for the US Central Command in Qatar.
Experts said it was more in President Saddam Hussein's interest to shut down the power, creating a crisis that the allied forces would have to deal with, and triggering an outcry from the international community and the UN.
"They [the Iraqis] can't afford a siege. They haven't got the troops for it," said Robert Hutchinson, a defence consultant with Jane's Defence Weekly in London.
"Saddam must be wanting to prolong this as long as possible in hope that casualties will affect public opinion or that the horrors of urban warfare will bring pressure to stop."
Copyright © 2003, Nationwide News Pty Limited
