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MEHDA'IN, Iraq, June 19, 2003 (ENS): Twenty
miles south of Baghdad, Mehda'in is a typical Iraqi
farming community - a once tranquil town whose way of
life has suffered double as a result of the U.S. led
war to topple Saddam Hussein. Both the Iraqi and the
U.S. armies have trampled this land. Both have littered
it with weapons. Both have targeted the homes of simple
farm folk.
"Farmers here can't work their land any more,"
said Salaheddin Hussein, the Imam of Ibrahim Al-Khileal
mosque. "One agricultural season has already been
lost and already poor farmers are facing severe financial
problems."
The tragedy of Mehda'in is repeated all over Iraq,
where agriculture accounts for up to eight percent of
the economy and employs about 25 percent of the population.
After two decades of neglect, and a decade of sanctions,
Iraq's grain production this season is expected to be
less than half that of 1990.
The United Nations has appealed for $1.3 billion to
provide food to Iraq during the next six months, making
Iraq's 24 million people the beneficiaries of the largest
food aid program in the world.
Despite the urgency of revitalizing agriculture in
the reconstruction effort for Iraq, the U.S. Agency
for International Development appears to be giving the
sector short shrift. It has signed contracts for capital
construction, seaport and airport administration, education,
public health, local governance, and logistical and
personnel support, but has taken no initiatives yet
on agriculture.
Several weeks before war was joined in March, the Iraqi
army established military positions on farmland in Mehda'in.
Fa'ik Karim Mahmoud, a 30 year old farmer, was forced
to leave his farm after military ordnance was placed
amid the fruit and vegetables he grew.
"I stopped working on my farm three months ago
because the Iraqi army dug trenches on my land and put
bombs in them," said Mahmoud. "When it left,
it left missiles, small rocket launchers and grenades
on the farm. Until these weapons are safely disarmed
and removed, I can't irrigate the land or grow anything
on it."
Another Mehda'in farmer, Abdel Bassit Daoud Salmon,
said members of the Fedayeen of Saddam, a militia established
by Saddam Hussein's son Odey, took over homes in Mehda'in
before the war and forced their owners out. When they
returned, they found their property burned and looted.
Once the war began, and Saddam's troops began to fall
back, it was the turn of the U.S. Army to dig in to
Mehda'in.
"American tanks entered my farm and destroyed
everything," said Mahmoud. "They shot up the
harvesting machines and shot at my house. The shooting
broke all my windows. The heat of the sun makes all
the bombs that are lying around extremely dangerous
- especially for my children, who play around them."
American forces took over Omar Adel Salmon's farm in
Mehda'in more than two months ago. They are still there.
"I became homeless when my house was bombed by
American forces and everything - electrical appliances,
furniture, clothes, even money - was burned," said
Salmon, 35. "My farm was transformed into a war
zone. I am a victim of two armies - the American and
Iraqi armies. A victim of the war. What sin did I commit
to suffer such damage? I played no part in the war."
Asked to reply to the accusations made against them,
a group of American soldiers on one of the farms in
Mehda'in - a farm now graced with two American tanks
- said only their officer was authorized to comment.
This reporter waited, but the officer did not appear.
Salaheddin Hussein, the local Imam, said agriculture
is suffering all over the region because American tanks
have damaged irrigation systems. He said the town's
river had been polluted, and its irrigation system further
damaged by effluent from filters used by U.S. forces.
Low flying American helicopters created fear and confusion
among children.
"We are all suffering from a severe lack of drinking
water," he said. " We buy one cubic meter
of water for 4000 dinars" - about three dollars,
a large amount for impoverished Iraqis - "and even
this is not exactly clean."
Hussein urged the U.S. forces to provide people with
drinking water and fix the water containers which American
tanks and other vehicles destroyed. He also called for
the establishment of a health center to treat civilians
injured because of the war, and for compensation for
families those who have suffered losses.
{Salaam al-Jubouri is a student and contributor to
"The Iraqi Witness," a Baghdad daily produced
largely by students. This report is published in cooperation
with the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.}
http://ens-news.com/ens/jun2003/2003-06-19-02.asp
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