After the ceasefire in 1988, the devastation to the landscape of Iraq wrought by the longest war of the twentieth century--the Iran-Iraq War--becomes visible. Eight years of fighting have turned nature upside down, with vast wastelands being left behind. In southeastern Iraq, along the shores of the Shatt al-Arab River, the groves of date palm trees have withered. No longer bearing fruit, their leaves have turned a bright yellow. There, Iraqi forces...