There is a plague of snakes – venomous snakes – in southern Iraq. Patrick Cockburn reports.
"We have been surprised in recent days by the unprecedented number of snakes that have fled their habitat because of the dryness and heat," Wissam al-Assadi, one of the town's vets said. "We saw some on roads, near houses and cowsheds. Farmers have come to us for vaccines, but we don't have any."
The plague of snakes is the latest result of an unprecedented fall in the level of the water in the Euphrates and the Tigris, the two great rivers which for thousands of years have made life possible in the sun-baked plains of Mesopotamia, the very name of which means "between the rivers" in Greek. The rivers that made Iraq's dry soil so fertile are drying up because the supply of water, which once flowed south into Iraq from Turkey, Syria and Iran, is now held back by dams and used for irrigation. On the Euphrates alone, Turkey has five large dams upriver from Iraq, and Syria has two.
The diversion of water from the rivers has already destroyed a large swathe of Iraqi agriculture and the result of Iraq being starved of water may be one of the world's greatest natural disasters, akin to the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest. Already the advance of the desert has led to frequent dust storms in Baghdad which close the airport. Yet this dramatic climatic change has attracted little attention outside Iraq, overshadowed by the violence following the US-led invasion in 2003 and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
The collapse in the water levels of the rivers has been swift, the amount of water in the Euphrates falling by three-quarters in less than a decade. In 2000, the flow speed of the water in the river was 950 cubic metres per second, but by this year it had dropped to 230 cubic metres per second.
The snake problem is a symptom of a larger problem – lack of water. There is less water because of damming upstream and because of drought. From Scientific American:
Iraq’s water reserves at the beginning of May were 11 billion cubic meters (385 billion cubic feet). Just three years ago, reserves held 40 billion cubic meters of water. Less rain, coupled with more water diversions for irrigation, is also to blame for increased water pollution and a decrease in agricultural production.
Iraq is pleading with its upstream neighbors—Turkey, Syria and Iran—to let more water flow southward.
As the Independent article notes, the lack of water is also devastating to Iraq’s ability to feed itself. What was once fertile no longer is – and the fruit and vegetable sellers are buying imported food. As a grocer told Patrick Cockburn, only dates – which require very little water – are still grown in Iraq.
From the figures quoted in the above articles, it would seem that the amount of water captured by dams upstream has increased remarkably since the U.S. occupation began. Ordinarily, one would think that countries would work such matters out among themselves – but Iraq has been at a disadvantage in recent years, to say the least. The snakes are a sign that the U.S. has not stood up for Iraq's interest in a matter as vital as water supply.
What fresh hell is this, for the people of Iraq. Attacked on ginned-up pretenses, they have lost infrastructure, suffered death on a massive scale, had millions of people displaced, had their land polluted with depleted uranium, etc. etc. They have a lot to put back together again. The Iraqi people are living the life of Job – and we don’t seem to be helping much by being there.
It is high time for the U.S. troops to come home -- and the contractors, too.
And the Congress just voted to continue funding the occupation.
Next steps?
Cross posted from Street Prophets