California-based Iraqi Americans have lobbied for the development of a new project to restore what is regarded by biblical scholars as the legendary Garden of Eden. The Eden Again project, which recently received 1.2 million Euros from Italy, is aimed at restoring the rich and fertile marshlands of Southern Iraq and assisting the marsh people who were desolated after Saddam drained them of their main source of sustenance. Saddam's draining of the marshlands, in what the United Nations called "One of the world's greatest environmental disasters" , has led to the desecration of over 90 percent of the marshlands through upland and downland damming. Azzam Alwash, an Iraqi-American and the Director of EdenAgain Project, said that the draining, a project that Saddam undertook after the Gulf war uprising against him, is a reflection of the terror under which Iraqi people lived. "The destruction of the marshes is tangible proof of the extent of the effort to punish the opposition," he said.

"It took a Herculean effort to divert the waters away from the marshes. Right in the middle of sanctions, to spend that kind of money to destroy the area of the marshes, it's incredible, mind-boggling." Alwash, whose father was the district irrigation engineer of the marshlands, spent his childhood on the marshes with the marsh people of Iraq. "I have very vivid memories of the marshes from puttering around in a boat with my father," he said. "I remember the waters and treading through the reed beds." The marshes of Iraq nurtured the culture and civilization of the Sumerians, who created the first alphabet and earliest epics, according to Suzie Alwash, senior project advisor of Eden Again. A marine geologist and wife of Azzam Alwash, she coordinates the Eden Again project through her California home while Azzam remains in the marshlands of Iraq. Although environmental concern fuels many people to assist with Project Eden, Azzam said that the rejuvenation of the marshlands is more integral to the psychology of the Iraqis. "The marshes are important because if they can be rejuvenated, it would be tangible proof for all of Iraq of how we can improve life in there," he said. Despite the support of the marsh people and the Italians, the Alwash's and other members of the Eden Again project have encountered a number of groups who oppose the marsh restoration. "It's mostly petroleum companies and the United States," said Suzie. "The oil companies want to drill in the land and the U.S. would rather the marsh people remain dependent on U.S. aide and business in my opinion." Jonathan Greenham (agricultural officer of internal development in Iraq) referred to the restoration of the marsh culture as a 'forlorn hope', according to Suzie. "That is the most arrogant and ignorant remark. The oldest and most ancient culture in the world is dead after just one decade? It is so far from the truth."