AL-KHOYOUT, Iraq (Reuters) – Sitting in his reed meeting house in what was once Iraq’s marshes, sheikh Rashash al-Imara warns of potential trouble if his poor tribesmen are driven off their land by foreign companies digging for oil.
“If I’m someone who is starving and an oil well has been drilled next to me, do you think I will remain quiet?” said sheikh Rashash, a former Iraqi army general, who is now a leading figure in the al-Imara tribe in southern Iraq.
“I swear by God I will take it to pieces. We have told them anything can happen, these are the marshes.”
Thought to be the site of the biblical Garden of Eden, Iraq’s ancient marshes have for years been known locally as a dangerous haven for smugglers, bandits and kidnappers.
Tribes here also live above some of the richest oil reserves in Iraq, and negotiating with them is the latest challenge for international companies working the country’s petroleum fields in some of the largest deals the industry has seen.
Saddam Hussein, ousted by a 2003 U.S.-led invasion and subsequently executed, had accused the Marsh Arabs of treason during his 1980-88 war with Iran. He had dammed and drained the marshes to flush out
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