03 March 2003

The environment is always a casualty of war. But in the conflict in Iraq, it could also become a weapon of destruction. In the 1991 Gulf war Iraq released more than 6m barrels of crude oil into the Gulf and set some 600 oil wells ablaze. In doing so, Saddam Hussein polluted water supplies, contaminated the soil and covered the region with thick, choking clouds of black smoke. If he tried it again, it would be particularly severe in the north of the country, where the oil contains a high concentration of hydrogen sulphide, posing an environmental and health hazard. There is also the possibility that Mr Hussein would again release crude oil into the Gulf, threatening up to 15 desalination plants on the Gulf and the limited supplies of ground water in the area. Concerns about the region's water supplies are accentuated by the legacy of the 1991 war, which left 40 per cent of Kuwait's fresh water reserves contaminated by oil, according to Green Cross International, a Geneva-based environmental organisation which estimates that the 1991 war cost $40bn (£25bn) in environmental damage, and remains concerned about the long-term effects of the "unprecedented" oil contamination.