We've done a lot to destroy much of Iraq. YOU CAN HELP PREVENT FURTHER DESTRUCTION OF THE SOUTHERN MARSHES. A proposed dam on the Tigris River in Mesopotamia will have a devastating effect on parts of Turkey and Iraq. Particularly, the unique antique town Hasankeyf, with a past of at least 10,000 year of continuous settlement, in the mainly Kurdish populated Southeast of Turkey and Marshlands in South of Iraq, the largest wetlands of the Middle East cultivated by Millions of “Marsh Arabs“, are threatened by the Ilisu Dam. It is one of the most controversial dams in the world. [IRAQ CIVIL SOCIETY] HAS THE FULL STORY.
The marshes, ordered destroyed by Sadaam, [in an attempt to drive out Shi'a opposition groups in southern Iraq] were a part of a traditional culture that depended upon them for their livelihood. Rich in fish and fowl, they were referred to as the original Garden of Eden.
For some time, there have been efforts to develop plans to restore the Mesopotamian marshes and return the Ma'dan people to their ancestral homes. There are now two major projects to restore the Marshes. The first to start working was AMAR (Assisting Marsh Arabs and Refugees), which is helping the Ma'dan people to survive in the refugee camps in Iran, and has also done a considerable amount of research on the ecology and hydrology of the Marshes from the scientific literature. The second project, Eden Again, is a more recently initiated program sponsored by the Iraq Foundation and the U.S. Department of State to develop a viable plan to restore the Marshes. The Eden Again Project, led by project directors Dr. Azzam and Dr. Suzanne Alwash, and project manager Michelle Stevens, is developing a hydrological model to determine how much water will be needed to restore the marshlands, how to reintroduce the ecologically important springtime flood pulse, and how best to wash out accumulated salts and pollutants. Project members are also examining remote sensing data from satellite photos to define habitat types within the marshlands, and are compiling a list of focal plant and animal species that can serve as biological indicators of successful habitat restoration. Eden Again is also working with representatives of the Ma'dan people to find out what they need in order for them to eventually return to their homes in the Marshes. According to Dr. Stevens, the two projects, AMAR and Eden Again, have been working together to come up with a comprehensive plan to restore the Marshes. Whereas AMAR tends to emphasize human needs more strongly, Eden Again is more focused on restoring the environment of the Marshes. There is, however, considerable overlap between the efforts of the two projects, which gives both the potential to devise a truly comprehensive program to restore the Mesopotamian marshlands to their former splendor. [Iowa State University] http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/marshes.htm
Exhibition celebrates 1,000 years of "forgotten" Muslim heritage
From coffee to cranks, items we couldn't live without today are Muslim inventions
Modern hospitals and universities both began in 9th century North Africa
London, England (CNN) -- Think of the origins of that staple of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind.
But in fact, Yemen is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins.
Along
with the first university, and even the toothbrush, it is among
surprising Muslim inventions that have shaped the world we live in
today.
The origins of these fundamental ideas and objects -- the
basis of everything from the bicycle to musical scales -- are the focus
of "1001 Inventions," a book celebrating "the forgotten" history of
1,000 years of Muslim heritage.
"There's a hole in our knowledge,
we leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks," professor Salim
al-Hassani, Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and
Civilisation, and editor of the book told CNN.
"1001 Inventions"
is now an exhibition at London's Science Museum. Hassani hopes the
exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures --
like the Muslim empire that once covered Spain and Portugal, Southern
Italy and stretched as far as parts of China -- to present day
civilization.
Here Hassani shares his top 10 outstanding Muslim inventions:
1. Surgery
Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi
published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was
used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his
many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to
stitch wounds -- beforehand a second surgery had to be performed to
remove sutures. He also reportedly performed the first caesarean
operation and created the first pair of forceps.
2. Coffee
Now
the Western world's drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen
around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay
up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of
students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th
century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16th century did the beans
start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader.
3. Flying machine
"Abbas
ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a
flying machine and fly," said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a
winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most famous
trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments,
before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His
designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian
artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci's hundreds of years later, said
Hassani.
4. University
In 859 a young princess named
Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez,
Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the
complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating
almost 1,200 years later, Hassani says he hopes the center will remind
people that learning is at the core of the Islamic tradition and that
the story of the al-Firhi sisters will inspire young Muslim women
around the world today.
5. Algebra
The word algebra
comes from the title of a Persian mathematician's famous 9th century
treatise "Kitab al-Jabr Wa l-Mugabala" which translates roughly as "The
Book of Reasoning and Balancing." Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu
systems, the new algebraic order was a unifying system for rational
numbers, irrational numbers and geometrical magnitudes. The same
mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the first to introduce the concept of raising a number to a power.
6. Optics
"Many of the most important advances in the study of optics come from the Muslim world," says Hassani. Around the year 1000 Ibn al-Haitham
proved that humans see objects by light reflecting off of them and
entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and Ptolemy's theories that light
was emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also
discovered the camera obscura phenomenon, which explains how the eye
sees images upright due to the connection between the optic nerve and
the brain.
7. Music
Muslim musicians have had a
profound impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete
with the music of Baghdad and Cordoba, according to Hassani. Among many
instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute
and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet.
8. Toothbrush
According
to Hassani, the Prophet Mohammed popularized the use of the first
toothbrush in around 600. Using a twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned
his teeth and freshened his breath. Substances similar to Meswak are
used in modern toothpaste.
9. The crank
Many of the
basics of modern automatics were first put to use in the Muslim world,
including the revolutionary crank-connecting rod system. By converting
rotary motion to linear motion, the crank enables the lifting of heavy
objects with relative ease. This technology, discovered by Al-Jazari in
the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading to everything from
the bicycle to the internal combustion engine.
10. Hospitals
"Hospitals
as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th
century Egypt," explained Hassani. The first such medical center was
the Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, founded in 872 in Cairo. Tulun hospital
provided free care for anyone who needed it -- a policy based on the
Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo, such
hospitals spread around the Muslim world.
For more information on muslim inventions go to: muslimheritage.com. For more information about the exhibition at London's Science Museum go to:science museum.org.uk
"Young women in Fallujah in Iraq are terrified of having children
because of the increasing number of babies born grotesquely deformed,
with no heads, two heads, a single eye in their foreheads, scaly bodies
or missing limbs"...Iraqirabita, Oct 2009[We decided not to include the photographs with this story.]
We first heard about the sudden rise in birth defects in Fallujah a couple of years ago, but put it down to outrageous exaggeration. Unable to find corroboration we filed it away with other anecdotal material. After digging around a bit I feel justified in adding my voice to the those who are speaking out about this particular horror the U.S. visited upon innocent Iraqi civilians.
Lisa Holland, of SKYNews UK made a video report of the situation in May of 2008.
I believe she should be credited with this latest round of concern. She
interviews family members, physicians, and human rights workers
directly involved.
Dahr Jamail spoke of the birth defects in Fallujah on TalkRadio in July of 2008.
Subsequent reporting has included statistical data gathered by pediatrician,
Samira Abdul Ghani. Birth records were relatively sketchy since the
invasion, and rare during Sadaam's reign, but are back on track. The comparisons are staggering.
[Iraqirabita, Oct 2009]Young women in Fallujah in Iraq are terrified of having children
because of the increasing number of babies born grotesquely deformed,
with no heads, two heads, a single eye in their foreheads, scaly bodies
or missing limbs...young children in Fallujah are experiencing hideous cancers and leukemias. These deformities are now
well documented, for example in television documentaries on SKY UK on
September 1 2009, and on SKY UK June 2008.
...In September 2009, Fallujah General Hospital had 170 new born babies,
24% of whom were dead within the first seven days, a staggering 75% of
the dead babies were classified as deformed...compared with data from the month of August in 2002 where
there were 530 new born babies of whom six were dead within the first
seven days and only one birth defect was reported.
[UPI Nov 2009] Birth defects and early childhood cancers have soared in Fallujah, site of two major battles after the invasion of Iraq, doctors say.
Doctors say they are unsure what is behind the spike in birth
defects, The Guardian reported, but suggest it might be chemicals used
during the two periods of intense fighting.
"We are seeing a very significant increase in central nervous system
anomalies," said Dr. Ayman Qais. "Before 2003 I was seeing sporadic
numbers of deformities in babies. Now the frequency of deformities has
increased dramatically." Studies suggest the rate of birth defects is about 15 times higher than
elsewhere in Iraq. Clusters of congenital defects have also been found
in Basra and Najaf, also racked by violence after the 2003 invasion.
[The Guardian/UK Nov 2009] reports that British and Iraqi medical personnel and officials have petitioned the U.N. to investigate and help with the cleanup of toxic materials resulting from the U.S. invasion and occupation.
There is still no conclusive link between American weapons, especially white phosphorous and depleted uranium, and the rise in birth defects. No scientific study of the linkage has yet been done.
We hope the U.N. will hear the cries of Fallujah and initiate a thorough investigation. The Obama administration should also support these efforts at finding the truth.
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