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Perusal of an article about Saddam Hussein's canal-building projects has led a scientist to a startling discovery about the mysterious collapse of Middle East civilisations more than 4,000 years ago. Sharad Master, a geologist at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, saw on satellite images of southern Iraq a large circular depression which he believes is a meteor crater. If confirmed, it would indicate an impact equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs, causing devastating fires and flooding in an area which would have been shallow sea at the time. The discovery could explain why so many early cultures went into ...

Saddam Hussein drained the unique wetlands of southern Iraq as a punishment to the region's Marsh Arabs who had backed an uprising. Two decades later, one courageous US Iraqi is leading efforts to restore the marshes. Not even exploding bombs can deter him from his dream. Azzam Alwash is an anomaly in Iraq, a country devastated by war and terrorism. As he punts through the war zone in a wooden boat, his biggest concerns are a missing otter, poisoned water and endangered birds. Who thinks about the environment in southern Iraq, and who is willing to risk his life to...

"Saddam's Killing Fields," an award winning account of the destruction of the Marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq and other crimes committed by Saddam's regime in the early 1990s including those committed during the 1991 uprising. Filmed in 1993 by Michael Wood a popular English historian and broadcaster.

Local Iraqi artists created murals on concrete security barriers on Sadoun Street near the Abu Nuwas Market in eastern Baghdad. Under Operation Fardh Al-Qanoon, also known as the Baghdad security plan, the Abu Nuwas Market is going to be re-opened for public use which will mean more customers for Sadoun Street, as well. More than 140 artists were employed for this project. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Sean Ryan Sadoun Street Receives Facelift in Baghdad Murals bring a community some sense of hope amid recent violence. By Maj. Sean Ryan2nd Brigade Combat Team2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office FORWARD...

The all out myth of 'all Arabs being natives in all of the middle east'     A myth that terrorists which have far greater ambitions such as to Islamize the entire region if not the entire world or racist local Arabization, have been using it (still do) to the loss of so many lives among Israelis, 'Palestinians', but it is a tool in the wider Arab land to fuel bitterness at the entire west, (with historic colonialists like Great Britain, France, Belgium, etc. in mind).   To be true to history, the Berbers were before the other Arabs...

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...

My son, who was with the 82nd Airborne, and spent 8 months in Iraq during Gulf War I, was scheduled to be shipped to either Iraq or Afghanistan this January 06. I decided to do some research on Iraq and discovered that very little has been done to restore the vast marshes at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Saddam Hussein decided to destroy this haven for freedom fighters by draining and drying the marshes. He succeded in driving all but 50,000 of the original 300,000 population of this giant wetland away. He transported many to cities in...

December 02, 2005, 8:19 a.m. The Winning Side Fox tells some of the mostly untold stories from Iraq. By Stephen Spruiell Whenever anyone — typically conservatives — criticize the media for not reporting on the successes the U.S. military has achieved in Iraq, the inevitable reply comes, "Well, what if there isn't any good news to report?" As a matter of fact, there is. And fortunately there are a few reporters and news organizations who are getting outside the Green Zone, talking to Iraqis in other parts of the country and finding a lot of success stories out there. On...

IZZAT Ibrahim al-Duri, one of Saddam Hussein's top deputies and a man who eluded US capture despite a hefty bounty on his head, reportedly died quietly overnight at the age of 63. The notice of his death came not from the US military, but from a statement signed by the dissolved Baath Party command. "The leader of the resistance died on Friday November 11 at 2:20 am," according to the statement signed by the Baath command. There was no immediate confirmation of his death. Duri was one of Saddam's most feared right-hand men and was said to be suffering from...

THE marshlands of southern Iraq, considered by some to be the inspiration for the biblical Garden of Eden, have recovered to nearly 40 per cent of their former glory since the toppling of Saddam Hussein. The dictator's mismanagement turned much of the lush waterscape into arid salt flats. But yesterday a United Nations report on a multi-million-pound restoration project revealed new satellite imagery showing a big increase in water and vegetation cover in the past three years. The marshes have rebounded to about 37 per cent of their 1970 extent, from about 10 per cent in 2002. "The evidence of...

The marshlands of Iraq, which were drained during the early 1990s, are returning to their original state. Under Saddam Hussein, the area of marsh was reduced to a tenth of its former size, as the government punished people living there for acts of rebellion. The latest United Nations data shows that nearly 40% of the area has been restored to its original condition. Drinking water and sanitation projects are under way, but the UN says that a full recovery will take many years. Way of life destroyed The marsh area, near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was...

TOKYO — The marshlands of southern Iraq, reputed inspiration for the biblical Garden of Eden, have recovered rapidly since the fall of Saddam Hussein, whose regime turned much of the lush waterscape into arid salt flats, the United Nations said Wednesday. New satellite imagery shows a rapid increase in water and vegetation cover in just the past three years, with the marshes rebounding to about 37 percent of the area they covered in 1970, up from about 10 percent in 2002, the United Nations Environmental Program (search) said. "The evidence of their rapid revival is a positive signal," UNEP executive...

The marshlands of southern Iraq, reputed inspiration for the biblical Garden of Eden, have recovered rapidly since the fall of Saddam Hussein, whose regime turned much of the lush waterscape into arid salt flats, the United Nations said Wednesday. New satellite imagery shows a rapid increase in water and vegetation cover in just the past three years, with the marshes rebounding to about 37 percent of the area they covered in 1970, up from about 10 percent in 2002, the United Nations Environmental Program said. "The evidence of their rapid revival is a positive signal," UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer...

Saddam Hussein Polluted Habitat Of Thousands Of Marsh Arabs They were bigger than the everglades, older than the Bible -- until Saddam Hussein set out to decimate the cradle of civilization. Now wetland experts in Wisconsin are helping restore historic wetlands in Iraq, reports News 3's Joel DeSpain. Joy Zedler, who holds the Aldo Leopold chair in Restoration Ecology at the UW, and Dr. Rich Beilfuss, a hydrologist with Baraboo's International Crane Foundation, head the uncommon international restoration mission. "It's an amazing area," Beilfuss said. "The Mesopotamian wetlands are probably something we all know a little bit about from childhood....

Only Saddam Hussein could make an arid desert out of the ancient Iraqi marsh considered by biblical scholars to be the Garden of Eden. While there is no doubt that revenge was in the Butcher of Baghdad’s heart when he cut the water flow to the marsh following 1991’s Gulf War, part of his motive originated from cutting breaks for business cronies. In draining the marsh, Saddam’s intent was to punish the Marsh Arabs who opposed his rule. To the heartless Saddam, it made no difference that the Arab culture had lived there for thousands of years. Saddam cutting breaks...

ust when things were looking up for Iraq's iconic marshlands, another threat has materialised. Iran has begun building a dyke that will threaten the water supply to the healthiest of the wetlands, the Al-Hawizeh marsh. "It will cut off a vast amount of water and remove some of the recovering marshes," says Curtis Richardson of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who is monitoring the recovery. Richardson told New Scientist that maintaining the Al-Hawizeh marsh, which straddles the border between Iran and Iraq, is crucial because it is a refuge for species that may recolonise other marshes. The wetlands, which...

Promising signs for Iraq marshes By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter, in Washington DC Local people reflooded the marshes after the fall of Saddam Iraq's devastated marshlands can be partially revitalised, says a team writing in the journal Science. Saddam Hussein ordered the extensive draining of the wetlands, in part to punish the native Marsh Arabs who opposed his rule. But the quality of water now flowing into the marshes is better than expected and researchers say 30% of the former wetlands could be restored. Details were presented at a major science conference in Washington DC. The marshes...

The fabled marshes of Mesopotamia, largely destroyed by Saddam Hussein in one of the worst pieces of ecological vandalism in recent history, can be partially restored, scientists said on Sunday. The first scientific assessment of the marshes in southern Iraq, al considered by some to have been the Biblical location of the Garden of Eden, was presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington. Saddam's drainage programme - accompanied by the persecution and forced relocation of the Marsh Arabs who had lived there for 5,000 years - reduced the wetlands to 7 per cent of...

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29614/story.htm Careful Flooding May Restore Iraq Marshes USA: February 21, 2005 WASHINGTON - Wetlands that once sheltered Marsh Arabs and a host of wildlife in southern Iraq are being partly restored and could offer a haven once again if it is done right, experts said on Saturday Luckily, water coming into the area from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is unexpectedly clean, washing away toxic salts that built up when the area was drained under Saddam Hussein's regime, the international team of experts reported. Bird species are starting to return, including pelicans, cormorants and wading species. The area was also...

WASHINGTON - Water and new life are returning to an ancient Iraqi marsh considered by many as the cradle of Western civilization. Saddam Hussein drained the area after the 1991 Gulf War to retaliate against the people who had lived there for thousands of years. International and Iraqi experts are now restoring it. For more than 5,000 years, the Marsh Arab culture thrived in the 8,000 square miles of wetlands fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The marshes boasted hundreds of species of birds and fish, and periodic flooding created fertile farm lands. Some scholars believe the flooded, flat...