truth about the marshes in Iraq

View of a Ma”dan floating village near Nasiriyah, by Nik Wheeler, 1974 

Iraq’s Marshes: A Stalled Recovery:  Despite Ministry’s Claim, Iraq’s Vast Wetlands Wait for Action

By CHASB AL-MARSUME  Iraq’s Marshes: A Stalled Recovery, click to read full story in Iraq Slogger

Photo: Chasb al-Marsume

Iraqi marshlands provided a key element to southern Iraq’s ecosystem, until Saddam Hussein ordered them drained following the 1991 Shia uprising.

For thousands of years, Iraq’s two great rivers nourished the vast southern marshlands of the country as they flowed towards the Persian Gulf. After the uprising in the south of Iraq at the end of the 1991 Gulf War, the now-deposed regime mounted a campaign to dam and divert the southern Iraqi waterways, draining and desiccating the marshlands in order to assert government control over areas where anti-regime rebels had taken cover.  The post-2003 Iraqi governments have committed to rehabilitating the Iraqi wetlands. Below, Chasb al-Marsume, an expert researcher on the southern marshes, takes issue with the government’s presentation of the restoration process.The Iraqi minister of water resources, in a television interview broadcast on the al-Iraqiya satellite channel on the afternoon of May 20, 2007, when asked about environmental and ecological situation in the southern marshes, said, “The marshes are now in very good condition,” claiming that, “Between 65 and 70%, of the marshes have been rehabilitated,” and adding, “The inhabitants of the marshes have returned to fishing and rearing water-buffalo, and they are managing very well.”  However, if we look closely, we can see that there is a great discrepancy between the minister’s answers, and what we know from the results of research and recent studies of the Iraqi marsh ecosystem.In fact, the truth about Iraq’s marshes is not concealed from anyone, and does not need a long debate, because the current realities of the marshes are in plain view — not only to Iraqis, but all over the world. It is in the interest of all concerned to engage with this reality without falsification or sugar-coating.

What we see, in fact, is very different than what the thousands of viewers heard on al-Iraqiya television on that day in May, for all of the recent studies confirm one truth, which is that a segment of the once-vast marshlands of southern Iraq have indeed been rehabilitated, but not nearly to the levels quoted by the minister, since the marshes were, at the end of 2005, no more than 40% rehabilitated, and since then this level has started to retreat.

Table showing the percentages of the rehabilitated marshes according to the latest study:

Name of Marsh	Area (square km) (dry season/flood season)	Rehabilitated Area (square km)	Environmental Condition
The central marshes (Amara and Qurnah)	600/2400	700	Poor
The Huweiza Marshes	650/2350	1500	Good
The Himar Marsh	600/3000	750	Very poor
Total	1850/7750	2950

According to recent research, the water in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which contains the principal nutrients that would benefit the marshland ecosystem, flows to the sea without these nutrients exploited to revive the remaining parts of the marshes. Areas that could be served by these water-borne nutrients are located especially in the marshlands west of the Tigris in Maysan province, as well as in the basin linking the marshes of Amiriya and Nasiriya, and in the al-Himar al-Kabir marsh.

In addition, as temperatures rise, more and more water in the marshlands is lost to evaporation without replacement. Most of the water levels in these areas are in fact becoming shallower.

Most disappointing is that the flow of the two major rivers is actually at a very high level right now, which, if it were exploited, could restore the entire Iraqi marshland.  Yet planning by the relevant ministries has not been at the level required in order to employ Iraq’s water resources to the benefit of the marshlands. Despite this disheartening reality, the Water Resources Ministry still takes pride in its achievements — achievements that appear on paper only.

The latest advanced research on the Iraqi marshes was published in an American study, whose results are now made available by the very same Water Resources Ministry. The findings, over 130 pages long along with DVD discs presenting the research, confirm, as seen in the table above, that the present status of marshland restoration is only at 30% of the desiccated areas.

The stock of water buffalo in the marshlands dropped to 35% of its historic levels after the drainage and desiccation operations in the ten years that preceded 2003. This large drop is a natural result of the destruction of the animal’s habitat.  Iraq’s marsh dwellers have been unable to raise water buffalos at earlier levels, especially since the price for a female water buffalo has reached 4 million Iraqi dinars (approx. $3,200). One can only assume that the ministry of water resources is aware of this reality but that addressing has fallen outside its competence.

The fish stocks of the marsh were widely known for being rich in protein and flavor. However, many species have nearly become extinct, including types of carp and other varieties…..For example, Maysan Province, considered to contain the majority of the remaining Iraqi marshes, is now imports fish from the lakes north of Baghdad and from Iran, even though Maysan is an area that should be producing its own fish rather than depending on other regions.

Nor has the agricultural condition in the marshlands improved to the necessary level. The increase of areas set aside for the cultivation of rice has actually caused a deterioration in the overall level of the land’s agricultural output, whether in the areas where rice is cultivated, or in the neighboring areas, due to the lack of real reclamation projects.

Photo: Chasb al-Marsume

Moreover, the problem of the smaller tributaries, which used to feed into the marshes and which were cut off during the former regime’s desiccation and draining operations, has not been addressed even now.

One example of this is the project known as the al-Musfaa aqueduct in Maysan Province’s al-Mashrah marshes, which is still pending, despite many studies advanced by academics and researchers arguing that this project would be beneficial for the drained marshlands in that area. Another project to develop a water treatment plant to serve the al-Mashrah marshes is also not moving forward, despite much academic research confirming the benefits it would provide to the area’s marsh ecosystem.

Photo: Chasb al-Marsume

The marshlands that cover half of Iraq’s southern area, which were called in the Old Testament the Garden of Eden, could not now be further from that description, having lost their basic foundation after the draining and desiccation operations of the former regime.  Unfortunately, after these destructive operations, the interest of the current Iraqi government remains weak in these important regions of Iraq.

Chasb al-Marsume is an expert researcher in the Iraqi marshes and director of the Iraqi Society for Marshes Restoration and Development (ISMRD), which conducts research and policy work related to Iraq’s marshlands. He can be reached by email at ismrd7@yahoo.com. ISMRD’s website can be found at http://ismrd.friendsofdemocracy.net/.

no end in sight

In the suburbs of Washington and all around the country today, there’s a small army of civilian and military experts and soldiers who did their time in Iraq and are now back, brooding, ashamed and angry.

They are angry about how badly wrong their mission went, about how they might have done it better, but mostly about how virtually all their best ideas and direst warnings were steadfastly ignored by the handful of men who led them.

This hour On Point: In a new documentary “No End in Sight,” those men and women look back in anger, and if you think you’ve heard it all, you haven’t.

· Charles Ferguson, Director and Producer of “No End in Sight: The American Occupation of Iraq” (winner of the Sundance Film Festival special jury prize for documentary) · Drew Erdmann, former Director for Iran, Iraq and Strategic Planning at the National Security Council, former Coalition Provisional Authority Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education.

brookings reports success in iraq………….

July 30, 2007, Op-Ed Contributor, Washington

A War We Just Might Win  (New York Times)

By MICHAEL E. O’HANLON and KENNETH M. POLLACK

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

Michael E. O’Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Kenneth M. Pollack is the director of research at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings.

Bloggers note:  Prior to the war O’Hanlon encouraged invasion as a means of dealing with Hussain and so that we might obtain a base from which we could operate in the Middle East.  In March he encouraged the surge as a winning strategy….

here’s a quote from Juan Cole, from Iraq Today

Quote of the day: I saw Michael O’Hanlon of Brookings on CNN Sunday saying he thought that the violence was less now. (O’Hanlon and Ken Pollack also gave us that uh, optimistic, op-ed about ‘a war we could win’ in the NYT.) I’d be interested in knowing how he is measuring this supposed fall in violence. If it is the deadliest July ever for US troops in Iraq; if there is a 23% increase in Iraqi deaths over June; if there were more attacks in June than any time since April 2003– how is that a decrease in violence? Somebody explain that to me.

1/3 of Iraqis need urgent aid

8 million Iraqis need urgent aid, report says

James Sturcke and agencies, Monday July 30, 2007

Guardian (click for full story)
Guardian Unlimited
An Iraqi boy drinks from a tap at a camp for displaced people in Najaf. Photograph: Qassem Neim/AFP/Getty Images
One third of the Iraqi population needs emergency aid because of the humanitarian crisis caused by war and ongoing violence, according to a new report.

Around 8 million Iraqis are in urgent need of water, sanitation, food and shelter, a joint report (pdf) released today by Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq said.

The document said that although armed violence is the greatest threat facing Iraqis, the population is also experiencing another crisis of “an alarming scale and severity”.

It was published as Gordon Brown met the US president, George Bush, determined to shift the focus in UK-US relations from Iraq to less divisive issues such as trade.

Mr Brown wants a quicker withdrawal of troops than the Bush administration. A report by the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, due in September, is expected to provide cover for a more rapid pullout.

Researchers found that 15% of Iraqis cannot regularly afford to eat, 70% do not have adequate water supplies (up from 50% in 2003), 28% of children are malnourished (compared with 19% before the invasion), and 92% of children suffer learning problems.

The report also said more than 2 million people – mostly women and children – have been displaced within Iraq and have no reliable income, while another 2 million Iraqis have fled the country as refugees, mostly to neighbouring Syria and Jordan.

The “brain drain” that Iraq is experiencing is further stretching already inadequate public services as thousands of medical staff, teachers, water engineers and other professionals are forced to leave the country, the report warned. At the end of 2006, an estimated 40% had left.

“Basic services, ruined by years of war and sanctions, cannot meet the needs of the Iraqi people,” Jeremy Hobbs, the director of Oxfam International, said. “Millions of Iraqis have been forced to flee the violence, either to another part of Iraq or abroad. Many of those are living in dire poverty.”

Mr Hobbs urged the Iraqi government, the UN and the international community to do more to help Iraqis.

A personal story by an independent reporter in Iraq

http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001499.html

80 year old Lion of Babylon destroyed…….

Photo from VOI, statue was in central Basra

Basra, Jul 29, (VOI) – Unidentified gunmen blew up the Lion of Babylon statue in central Basra during the early hours of Sunday, eyewitnesses said.”An explosive charge was planted under the statue, completely destroying it the historical monument in Basra,” an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

The statue, one of the historical landmarks in Basra, 590 km south of Baghdad, was built in the 1920s and symbolized the Babylonian civilization.

The Lion of Babylon, large and splendidly carved in basalt, is reminiscent of the legend that the lion was the symbol of the goddess Ishtar, the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of love, fertility, and war. In the sculpture, the lion’s back has marks indicating that it was meant for a precious saddle upon which the goddess Ishtar would stand.

Also Reported later:

Baghdad – The tomb of the prophet Daniel was destroyed Sunday in Baquba, the provincial capital of Diyala, a police source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. “Unidentified individuals planted a load of high explosives around the tomb of the prophet Daniel in al-Wajihiya area, thus destroying it completely and razing it to the ground,” the source said.

The attack was carried out by gunmen, who later attacked residents of a nearby village, killing five and kidnapping at least 13 others, the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) reported.

U.S. ambassador to the U.N. criticizes Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday that ally Saudi Arabia was undermining efforts to stabilize Iraq. Zalmay Khalilzad’s comments follow word from a senior defense official that a planned U.S. weapons sale to Saudi Arabia and other moderate Gulf states was expected to be a topic this week when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates visit the Middle East. Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said an opinion column he wrote for The New York Times this month accusing U.S. allies of pursuing destabilizing policies toward Iraq referred in part to Saudi Arabia. “Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries are not doing all they can to help us in Iraq,” he said Sunday. “At times, some of them are not only not helping, but they are doing things that is undermining the effort to make progress.” U.S. officials have stepped up public criticism of Saudi Arabia but remain cautious in dealing with a crucial ally in the region. Iraqi officials have accused Saudi Arabia of allowing a flow of funding to support Sunni insurgents and failing to prevent would-be suicide bombers from crossing the Saudi border to infiltrate Iraq. On their trip, Rice and Gates are expected to ask Saudi King Abdullah for greater cooperation in Iraq. The United States says it will push for forgiving millions in Iraqi debt dating to the Saddam Hussein era and security help for the government of Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. Two House Democrats, Reps. Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler of New York, said Sunday they would introduce legislation to block the Saudi arms deal. “We need to send a crystal clear message to the Saudi Arabian government that their tacit approval of terrorism can’t go unpunished,” Weiner said at a news conference in New York. “Saudi Arabia should not get an ounce of military support from the U.S. until they unequivocally denounced terrorism and take tangible steps to prevent it.” Weiner and Nadler noted that that 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001 were Saudi citizens. A House Republican leader, Minority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, said he was inclined to support the sale. It is expected to total about $20 billion and would include advanced weaponry and air systems that would greatly enhance the striking ability of Saudi warplanes. “But on these issues regarding Saudi Arabia, we have a bigger problem in the House all the time, because of the disappointments with the Saudis, who have traditionally been good friends of ours, who have been allies in the region, but continually seem to not understand the situation we’re in right now,” Blunt said. “And so, the votes that we’ve had have been harder and harder as related to Saudi Arabia. And the administration’s going to have to really make the case here that this is needed, that there are reasons beyond what we can see, that the Saudis continue to be helpful to us. And that will be a challenge for them, I think.” Khalilzad and Blunt appeared on “Late Edition” on CNN. © 2007 The Associated Press.

Iran dismisses U.S. strength, taunts in Middle East power play

Iran says U.S. is too stretched to attack it

Jul 29, 2007

BERLIN (Reuters) – Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has told a German magazine that the United States has too many problems in Iraq to become involved in armed conflict with Iran.

Military action is sometimes discussed in Washington as an option in trying to derail what it sees as Iran’s drive to develop nuclear weapons.

The United States “is not in a position to get into a new military conflict,” Mottaki was quoted as saying in an excerpt of an interview to be published in Focus magazine.  “170,000 American soldiers can guarantee neither their own safety nor the security of Iraq,” he said.

The United States and its allies say Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment program is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran insists it is purely for peaceful power generation.

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran for failing to stop enrichment, but Mottaki reiterated that Iran had no intention of curtailing the program.  Mottaki has dismissed the U.N. sanctions already imposed and said that tougher penalties would not change Iran’s mind.

There was no mention of plans for further talks between Iran and the United States on Iraq.

 Reuters News Service.