Just a little remembering of what we have done in Iraq. This article just brought tears in 2003 when I read it. There were just two tiny pictures with it. The story was not long, but it tells a portion of our sad legacy there in that country of Iraq.
To Avenge Their Trees, Iraqi Farmers Threaten Resistance
Claiming his lush date and orange groves provide camouflage for resistance fighters, the U.S. occupation forces leveled Khalil’s plantations.
But he feels skeptical, wondering “what kind of civilized people are those who are destroying my plants”.
“They say resistance fighters could hide in the fields, but I tell you these are my fields and nobody goes into them. There are no attacks around here,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP), as a mob of angry men in traditional Arab white robes nod in support.
Khalil is sitting on the side of a dusty road leading to his native Duluiyah, a large village where Sunni Muslim tribes farm a modest living out of the banks of the Tigris river. But the plantation fields are barren resembling the aftermath of a hurricane after U.S. troops last week razed the paddocks of fruit trees. Now a handful of residents are scavenging the trunks and debris to make charcoal.
“We cannot benefit from the fruits anymore, so we will try to earn some money from charcoal,” explained Mohammad Saleh amid the stone houses which were once shaded by the plantation.
These two pictures speak louder than any words could speak. This is part of our legacy there. We won’t be forgotten.
