Iraq: Neglect May Do What ISIS Didn’t: Breach Iraqi Dam

Jan 10, 2016 | Michael R. Gordon, New York Times
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More than 16 months after Iraqi and Kurdish forces reclaimed Mosul Dam from Islamic State fighters, the structure faces a new threat: the danger that it may collapse because of insufficient maintenance, overwhelming major communities downstream with floodwater. In the worst-case scenario, according to State Department officials, an estimated 500,000 people could be killed while more than a million could be rendered homeless if the dam, Iraq's largest, were to collapse in the spring, when the Tigris is swollen by rain and melting snow.