978-1-4222-3442-6

24

I RAQ

we saw flat, arid ground. . . . The landscape, which was mostly desert, would have patches of green that a gardener attended to with daily irrigation. [I could see] alfalfa, onions, grasses, a celery-tasting herb called crufus, and parsley, as well as palm trees bearing dates.” The alluvial plain makes up about one-third of Iraq. The entire plain is flat with a low elevation, dropping from 80 feet above sea

Located along the Iraq-Iran border, the Shatt al Arab has been a source of frequent conflict between the two countries.