Tørke i Irak

Området mellem Eufrates og Tigris er et af civilisationens arnesteder. Det kaldes Mesopotamien, 'landet mellem de to floder'. Det rigelige ferskvand skabte grobunden for menneskemasserne i marsken. Men de sidste tre år har der været tørke i de irakiske områder, bl.a. fordi Tyrkiet, Syrien og Iran har bygget dæmninger længere nordpå.

Droughts are not rare in Iraq, though officials say they have been more frequent in recent years. But drought is only part of what is choking the Euphrates and its larger, healthier twin, the Tigris.

The most frequently cited culprits are the Turkish and Syrian governments. Iraq has plenty of water, but it is a downstream country. There are at least seven dams on the Euphrates in Turkey and Syria, according to Iraqi water officials, and with no treaties or agreements, the Iraqi government is reduced to begging its neighbors for water.

At a conference in Baghdad — where participants drank bottled water from Saudi Arabia, a country with a fraction of Iraq’s fresh water — officials spoke of disaster.

“We have a real thirst in Iraq,” said Ali Baban, the minister of planning. “Our agriculture is going to die, our cities are going to wilt, and no state can keep quiet in such a situation.”

Af alle Iraks ulykker er denne nok den mest oversete i forhold til omfanget. Det virker absurd, at valget af den næste statsminister diskuteres så intenst, mens få nævner, at grundlaget for nationen er ved at tørre ud. Hvis det fortsætter, vil det være dødsstødet for staten, og måske også for befolkningen. Det magtpolitisk logiske ville være, at Irak blev slugt af dem, der kan skrue op og ned for sluserne, men mennesket er ikke udelukkende drevet af den slags logik.