The great marshes of Iraq are slowly beginning to recover from Saddam Hussein's rule, reports the New York Times. Hussein's environmental record was nearly as bad as his record on human rights. Indeed, Hussein may have been the first dictator to use ecological destruction as a deliberate tool of oppression -- if not genocide. He ordered the destruction of Iraq's marsh ecosystems to punish and oppress the marsh arabs who opposed his rule. Now that Hussein is gone, these ecosystems are starting to come back.

For more on Hussein's ecological reign of terror, see here.