This from the Associated Press today:
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.
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Saddam drained much of the Mesopotamian waters between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers by building dams, dikes and canals to punish the Marsh Arab inhabitants for supporting a Shiite Muslim rebellion following the 1991 Persian Gulf War. He also ordered thousands killed.
The marshes had been the source for fishing, boating and small agriculture that once sustained a population of up to 500,000 people.
Of almost 3,600 square miles of marshes in 1970, the area shrank by 90 percent to 304 square miles by 2002.
While the mainstream media highlights every homicide bombing and supposed US-setback in Iraq, why hasn't this positive environmental news received equal coverage?
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