Mike Shanahan
25 August 2005Source: SciDev.Net
Satellite images show that Iraq's Mesopotamian marshes, which almost vanished during Saddam Hussein's rule, are rapidly recovering.
The marshes — reputed to be the biblical Garden of Eden — are a major source of fish and freshwater for local people, as well as being an important habitat for wildlife.
"The near total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life," says Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
Hussein drained the marshes in a deliberate attempt to force out the Arabs, a people whose livelihoods have depended on the wetlands for thousands of years.
THESE are the hard learned lessons of the Iraqi Shi'ites. They won't give up complete control to a central authority and risk this type of assault against lives and land. I just don't see it happening. We need not repeat the mistake of past governments in that country. We need to leave them alone.
