After the ceasefire in 1988, the devastation to the landscape of Iraq
wrought by the longest war of the twentieth century--the Iran-Iraq
War--becomes visible. Eight years of fighting have turned nature upside
down, with vast wastelands being left behind. In southeastern Iraq,
along the shores of the Shatt al-Arab River, the groves of date palm
trees have withered. No longer bearing fruit, their leaves have turned a
bright yellow. There, Iraqi forces had blocked the entry points of the
river's tributaries and streams, preventing water from flowing to the
trees and vegetation. Yet, surveying this destruction from the sky, a
strip of land bursting with green can be seen. Beginning from the Shatt
al-Arab River and reaching to the fringes of the western desert, several
kilometers wide, it appears as a lush oasis of some kind. The secret of
this fertility, sustaining villages and remaining soldiers, is unclear.
But it is said that one old woman is responsible for this lifeline.