By Pat McDonnell Twair

from: WRMEA (used w/permission).

For 7,000 years, the moist, fertile inland delta where the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers converge in what is now called southern Iraq has supported a unique ecosystem and culture. The abundance of fish, wildlife, birds and soil conducive to growing barley and wheat gave rise to the first city states of the Sumerians. In fact, some archeologists believe this was the Eden alluded to in the Old Testament and earlier texts of the ancient Near East.

Historically, the dense reed beds-which could be penetrated only by small boats-created a haven for Chaldeans, who defeated the Assyrian ruler Sargon in the 7th century B.C.E. During the Abbasid period, the Zanj, a rebellious slave army, took refuge in the vast marshland which far exceeded the expanse of the Florida Everglades. Not even the Ottoman Turks succeeded in incorporating into their empire the independent Ma'dan people, who had inhabited the vast wetlands since prehistory.

But, in one of the greatest ecological crimes of the 20th century, Saddam Hussain managed to drain, poison and desiccate the lush wetlands that were home to 250,000 Ma'danis, as well as a crucial stopover for birds migrating from Europe to Africa. This marshland also served as a kidney to the entire Persian/Arabian Gulf by filtering out toxins while contributing organic matter to fishes breeding in the region.

Frustrated by the Shi'i opposition, which eluded his army by retreating into the marshlands, Saddam launched a punitive assault in 1991 that brought desertification to one of the world's most valuable delta regions. Working his engineers 24 hours a day for nine months, the dictator built the Saddam River, a canal that diverted agricultural drainage water that once flowed into the Gulf's al-Hammar marsh. This was followed in 1994 by the Mother of Battles River that channeled fresh water from the Euphrates into a salt water marsh. On the central marshes, drainage canals were constructed under the names of the Prosperity River and, to drain the Hawizeh Marsh, the Crown of Battles River. In 1997, the final blow was the Fidelity to the Leader Canal, which also diverted water from the al-Hammar.

Whatever water remained after this non-stop erection of locks, dikes, earth embankments and massive canals-one alone was four-miles wide-was poisoned. Amateur videotapes by Iraqi refugees verify the use of toxins to kill fish and water buffalo.

Not only were a quarter of a million Ma'dan people killed or scattered, but many bird and animal species unique to the Mesopotamian marshlands may have been eliminated from large portions of their range; these include the smooth-coated otter, Jungle cat, Mesopotamian deer and honey badger.

According to biologist Dr. Michelle Stevens, "We do not know that any species are extinct, because many have found refuge in the Hawizeh marsh on the Iran-Iraq border. The Mesopotamian marshlands provide habitat for a number of globally threatened species, including 14 species of bird, three species of mammal and one species of dragonfly. Given the habitat loss, several rare or endemic species must now be classified as globally threatened."

Satellite photos provide the only testimony to this ecocide. Saddam justified his colossal drainage project as a means of clearing land for wheat production and opening oil exploration to the Russians and French.

Commented Dr. Hassan Partow of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP): "It is absolutely phenomenal to see the destruction of an ecosystem of that scale in just five to six years."

Now, riding to the rescue are two California-based specialists, Drs. Azzam and Suzie Alwash. The two met at USC, where both were graduate students on scholarships: he in engineering, she in geology.

Azzam was born in Iraq, where his father, Jawad, was the country's preeminent irrigation engineer. As a young boy, Azzam rode with his father in motorized boats while his father inspected water levels and irrigation systems. In 1978, at age 19, Azzam traveled to the U.S. to study engineering, and never returned-much, he admits, to his father's disappointment.

The elder Alwash retired in 1985. Five years later, when Saddam permitted Iraqis to acquire exit visas, he came to the U.S. to visit Azzam and a daughter in Washington, DC.

"The first Gulf war broke out and my father opted to remain in the U.S.," explained Azzam, who is a partner in Tustin Pacific Soils and Engineering, a firm with 110 employees. Wife Suzie is a professor of geology at El Camino College. The couple has two daughters, Hannah, 10, and Norah, 8.

When news of the devastation of the Iraqi marshlands began leaking out of Iraq, Azzam was heartsick and started to toy with ideas on how this area, roughly twice the size of Rhode Island, could be resuscitated.

With his vast knowledge of the river routes and estuaries of the former marshes, Jawad cooperated with his son in constructing computer models simulating methods to reflood the region.

"There is no way we can hope to restore all the original wetlands," Azzam noted. Mega-dams built from the 1970s to the present in Turkey and Syria have dissipated the input flowing into Iraq from the Euphrates and Tigris. Irrigation techniques of farmers growing wheat, barley and rice also drain water from the region.

In 2001, Azzam and Suzie founded Eden Again which aims to carry out feasibility studies on restoring the Iraqi wetlands so vital to the global environment. The organization comes under the umbrella of the Iraq Foundation.

Two large satellite photos of the region before and after drainage illustrate the obscene proportions of Saddam's ecocidal project. More than 90 percent of the marshlands' 7,800 square miles-equal to the size of Massachusetts-is now desert and salt beds. The little that remains is the Hawizeh marsh near the Iranian border. Large reed beds were not destroyed there because Saddam reckoned they formed an eastern buffer with Iran.

"Remember those TV images of U.S. Marines caught in the apocalyptic dust storms outside Nasiriyah?" Suzie asked. "If the Marines had entered Iraq and been in the same spot in 1991, they would have been standing in swampy 10-foot-tall reed beds stretching as far as the eye could see."

The couple first approached the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). As war appeared increasingly imminent, however, Azzam picked up his maps and computer models and traveled to Washington to confer with Pentagon and State Department officials. He lobbied generals not to bomb dams or dikes, because new water flowing in would be contaminated by saline layers and toxins. He prepared leaflets in Arabic that were to be dropped over southern Iraq, asking Iraqis not to tear down water works until salts were flushed out of dry water beds.

"I think they cooperated at first," Azzam said. "But after one-and-a-half months, the people grew impatient. They saw nothing happening. We believe they've started to reflood an area around Fahood and Chaibaish where we estimate there is up to 2 feet of saline deposits. If the sluice gates are open, the next best solution is to create embankments preventing the water from flowing into the saline areas."

In spring 2002, the Alwashes received a $200,000 grant from the State Department through the Iraq Foundation. With that, they hosted a restoration planning workshop in February at the University of California, Irvine attended by 20 international experts. All donated their professional time to the project. The couple also delivered presentations to the UNEP in Geneva.

At the February symposium, Dr. Thomas L. Crisman of the University of Florida described Azzam's goal as much more daunting than restoring the Florida Everglades, which have a robust inflow of water as well as an approved plan to clean up the morass. However, Dr. Crisman allowed, favorable conditions could enable the Iraqi marshes to be on the mend in two years, and functioning within five to six years.

The Alwashes' efforts drew the attention of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which organized a two-week feasibility study scheduled to begin June 15. Comprising the USAID team were Azzam, Dr. Curtis Richardson, director of the Duke University Center for Wetlands, one USAID employee and one contractor.

On June 9, under the auspices of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), Jawad Alwash traveled to Baghdad. There he will be working on "de-Ba'athification" and helping restructure the Ministry of Irrigation. And, hopefully, he will be able to supply much needed information and local experts to Azzam in the south.

The USAID team entered southern Iraq from Kuwait to take soil samples, prioritize specific areas conducive to a phased restoration, test methods for reintroducing a flood pulse, and meet with displaced Ma'danis to assess their needs if they are to return to the region. Many Ma'danis fled to refugee camps in Iran, others are scattered throughout Iraq. Unknown tens of thousands were killed during the drainage years. Studies are in order on these surviving Ma'danis who lived in deep marshes or in peripheral areas to determine their preferred future living conditions.

Iraqi petroleum engineers Azzam has contacted welcome hearing his plans for modifying drilling techniques that would be compatible with restoration of the wetlands. Oil fields in the south are reputed to constitute the world's third largest petroleum reservoir.

"One of the most efficient means of drawing oil from underground reservoirs is slant drilling," Azzam explained. Rigs would pump oil from platforms supporting a station for oil and another for gas separation, methods which have been utilized in the swamps of Louisiana.

"It's not a problem of displacing oil fields, it's the availability of water," the optimistic Iraqi-American continued. "If drip and spray irrigation can be introduced to barley and wheat farmers, a lot of water that is wasted or evaporates can be diverted to the marshlands."

Noting that Iraq has only one-sixth of the 12 billion megawatts its electricity infrastructure requires, he questioned why Iraq does not purchase electricity from Turkey.

"Instead of negotiating in the future with Turkey over water rights," he asked, "why not pay it for the electricity it will generate by releasing water downstream?"

This is what the innovative Iraqi-American calls "thinking outside the box."

"That's what Iraqi engineers have had to do since the first Gulf war," Azzam emphasized. "Iraqi engineers have been left in a time warp since 1990, but they have been ingenious in finding solutions outside the box."

When bridges had to be repaired in 1991 and sanctions banned all incoming equipment, Iraqi engineers melted down old bolts and forged new ones. Whether it was repairing oil pumping stations or a car engine, Iraqi engineers created Rube Goldberg-like devices to keep the machinery running.

"Iraq will be served best by removing the socialist system that made the people dependent on the government for their livelihoods, even their food," the enthusiastic Azzam emphasized. "Decentralization is necessary for economic vitality and to prevent a repeat of another Ba'athist experiment.

"For the first time I have hope," he smiled. "The U.S. can't afford to have a failed experiment."

In the U.S., Azzam has taught his wife and daughters the joys of kayaking. He hopes to teach them how to maneuver wood mushhuf boats in Euphrates tributaries as soon as next spring.

It won't be too soon for the couple's young daughters who, frustrated by their parents' preoccupation with restoration of the Mesopotamian marshes, are prone to hide their cell phones in hope of a little more two-on-two communication.

Pat McDonnell Twair is a free-lance writer based in Los Angeles. This article originally appearred in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, it is used here with permission.