Regards, Ivan
Posted on 05/01/2003 5:43:32 PM PDT by MadIvan
A herd of chocolate-brown water buffaloes snort their way across a corn field followed by their owner, Ahmed Kadhum Na'eem, who 18 days ago transported them on trucks from a farm outside Baghdad in an eight hour journey, the most exciting trip of his life.
For the first time in decades his family have been able to return to farm the marshlands which they had lived off for generations but - along with thousands of other Marsh Arabs or Ma'dan - were forced to abandon.
From the late 1980s Saddam Hussein drained most of the 4,000 square miles of the 6,000-year-old marshes sandwiched by the Tigris and Euphrates in a triangle between the cities of Kut in the north, Nasiriyah in the west and Basra in the south.
The project was largely an attempt to drive out opposition forces who used the marshland reeds and complicated network of seasonally-changing waterways as hideouts.
Many thousands were killed in a series of particularly vicious purges in 1998 when, on orders from Saddam's Ba'ath party, bulldozers ground the mud and brick huts to dust. Saddam's men also stole many rare fish eggs to establish fish farms for the dictator in his native Tikrit.
Over the years around 90 per cent of the 90,000 Ma'dan fled to refugee camps in Iran or were forced to abandon rural life to take menial jobs in Iraq's cities.
But the start of the war to topple Saddam marked a new turn in the lives of the Ma'dan.
Coalition forces broke through the Abo Lihya and Ejwemisa dams allowing the waters to flow back to a few of the cracked and desiccated plains which used to boast some of the world's greatest wetland concentrations of animals and plants.
Since the close of the war, small numbers of the Ma'dan have been returning to pick up their former lives.
Hatim Sikji Ikraimish, who was driven out of his home in 1998, returned with his 15-member family 10 days ago. Nine months in prison, followed by years working on a tomato farm outside Basra for 30p a day, have contributed to his white hair and lined face which give him the appearance of a man three decades older than his 34 years.
"We feel happy. Even the trees are greener," he said inside his newly-built wattle and daub house - or sarifa - as tall palm trees swished in a strong breeze.
"This war has brought two joys for us: the end of Saddam and the return of our water."
Yards from his house the milky-green waters of the marshes glisten and a man slides a slim canoe down a shallow stream in search of fish.
On the opposite bank lie the stumps of mud and reed houses and a school, all that is left of the village of Al-Auraithem after it was razed by Saddam's forces.
But for all the areas where the marshland has returned, there are vast expanses that merely hint at the former glory of the area: scallop and conical shells are scattered across the salt-stained fissured ground and lie half embedded in corn fields.
Numerous families are returning to the still-dry areas on the strength of promises by village elders that once the current harvest has been completed next month, the remaining dams will be opened. The hope is that the marshlands will be restored to their previous state within a year.
"I remember the time when there was water and I could fish, and the birds would sing," said a barefooted Ahmed, stepping on thorny plants to lead his buffalo to a nearby river.
"I hope I only have to wait a few more days for the old life to return."
Regards, Ivan
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