One of the many truly evil things Saddam Hussein did was drain the marshes in Southern Iraq as part of a program to suppress the “marsh Arabs” that had lived in that region for literally thousands of years. It looks like there’s talk of restoring the marshes, if possible. It’s going to take a lot of cash, though, and ultimately, the unique culture of the marsh Arabs will probably never be restored. Maybe anthropologists can document it so that it lives on in the annals of history, if nowhere else.