Wing Cmdr. Tim Heyworth and Sheik Abdul Bari cut the tape to open the water project while villagers watch.
Posted on 08/17/2006 4:48:24 PM PDT by SandRat
The patrol pulled up and men of the U.K. 3 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment jump out of their vehicles and approached a crowd of waiting men.
Unlike most places in Iraq the airmen are relaxed. They are able to remove their helmets and conceal their weapons as they meet and greet the familiar faces of the Shaghamba tribe.
For the Iraqis and British airmen the occasion is a happy one. The ceremony marked the completion of a project financed by Coalition forces in Iraq to pump water into a Marsh Arab village near Basra Air Station.
"We are very pleased to be here, it is an honor to us to help," said Wing Cmdr. Tim Heyworth, stepping forward to cut the ribbon.
The crowd erupted and the commander disappeared in a wave of singing and dancing into the village.
"This is a critical change. We used to grumble about the lack of water, now we have enough," said village elder Sheik Badr.
The religious and cultural significance of the project is important to the villagers.
"Women shouldn’t be seen by strangers. Before, they would be seen by strangers when they went to the canal to get water," said the sheik. The project takes water from a canal and pumps it to a network of 30 basins or ‘pods’ within the villages. The water is not treated for drinking, but is used for washing and also for watering the 300 water buffalo of the village.
Chief engineer Ali Kshaishesh is clearly delighted with the new system.
"It's great for the people, they cannot conceal their happiness. They were suppressed under Saddam (Hussein) for 14 years; this is a huge step forward," he said, while narrowly avoiding a soaking from some of the children playing at one of the pods.
The new water system also helps with security.
"It is really important to help safeguard the security of Basra Air Station. By helping develop the village, we will help to keep those who wish to harm us away from the airport," said Heyworth, who is charged with protecting the airport.
"This project is very different. It’s low cost but has a huge impact. The women don’t have to walk 1.5km (.9 miles) to collect water 2-3 times a day, the buffalo can be kept at home so their milk production increases," said Heyworth.
To help mark the occasion, Iraqi’s held a feast for the British airmen.
For Flight Lt. Guy Wood this is the fruit of several months' work to develop relations with the locals.
"I’m regularly invited in for a cup of tea and a chat, but today is very special indeed," said the patrol commander. "Their feelings are tangible, and they have openly stated their commitment to the Coalition forces."
It would seem that the relationship is a symbiotic one.
The Marsh Arabs feel the benefit of local development projects, thereby helping to safeguard the air base from the threat of attack. For 3 Squadron, patrols into the Marsh Arab villages are a rewarding experience which brings Coalition forces closer to local people.
Bringing the Marsh Arabs back from the brink of extinction is only one of the selfless good deeds done by our and allied troops in this war that go completely ignored by the media, the "human rights" lobby and the likes of Murth, Kerry et al.
Sounds like a great future for the women. /sarc
Yeah, I spotted that sentence too. Good thing for all of us, I imagine, that we don't get to leer at them.
LOL
I remember reading about these Iraqis. Saddam suspected them of disloyalty to him so he diverted the water from the marshes on which their lifestyles and culture depended. That's a harsh punishment and their lives have been immeasurably difficult since that time. This restores the area back to the marsh it was. The Sierra Club ought to be happy about that. I believe they want to do this to Glen Canyon and Lake Powell.
As for the women, the issue isn't the rules of their society so much as whether they voluntarily agree with those rules. If a woman can leave if she wishes, then I think we shouldn't judge these people by their rules. It's better to let societies change the rules on their own rather than impose them from the outside. That was always my beef with NOW and their gallivanting around the world telling women to dump the men in their lives and foist their children on the government. Most societies that are healthy are based around family structure and not on the rampant individualism which we have now in our ultra-modern, hyper-convenient America and that has made it possible for us to chuck family relationships--to our detriment, I believe. I don't advocate going back to marital servitude but I don't advocate pushing our lifestyles onto others without considering both the downsides of our society and the circumstances of the society we wish to change. But then, maybe I've watch too many Star Trek "Prime Directive" shows. ;o)
When I was in Saudi Arabia I learned that in the generation or their grandparents that men did't normally die natural deaths.
They lived by raiding and the only thing worth stealing was women and livestock. It is not wise to let people know that you have attractice women at home.
The only Saudi woman I spoke to while I was there worked as a receptionist at a chiropractors clinic I went to. Her friend was a talky Palestinian woman who was unveiled. The Saudi woman was veiled and said the only reason she had to do that was because Saudi men were such animals.
Sounds like a great future for the women. /sarc
I think it is supposed to increase their milk production and cut down on the need for water buffalos, or something like that.
parsy, who still nurses the bottle.
the greatest INTENTIONAL man made ecological disaster since WWII... and even after President Bush made it right, he'll still never get any credit for it. 
I think your right.
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