Idle Iraqi Date Farms....from NYTimes.com

Sad...

The production of most agricultural products in Iraq has been almost completely dissolved since Iraq's government has grown dependent on the production of oil for 90% of its exportations and revenue. Sometimes I feel like Americans don't understand that long history of this part of the world, where Iraq has had a healthy and self-sustaining agricultural economy for thousands of years.

Sorry to say, but we've ruined their country. Unfortunately, our mission was to thoughtlessly remove Hussein and in the process we removed many of the necessities and commodities required for agriculture to thrive. From a lack of running water and electricity, to complications of crop-dusting, for now a recovery of the date industry in Iraq seems to be a mirage at the edge of the Tigris; nothing more than a pleasant thought.

Read the NYTimes article here.

Image from rasamalaysia.com