Modern Day M*A*S*H and The Oasis

Camp Al-Asad is basically a camp where everyone stays while passing through to their permanent stations. Filled with lots of history, it poses to be one of the most interesting places Ty has gone through.

Although people do not stay there for long, the camp itself is quite large. Sitting in the middle of the base itself is the stadium where the Iraqi soccer team played. That stadium is also the place where Saddam Hussein had the entire Iraqi soccer team executed for not coming home with a medal from the Olympics.

The oasis, also known to some as Abraham's well, also sits inside the base.

Ty stands outside the gate to what I like to call "Modern Day M*A*S*H".

This is what their living quarters looked like on the outside.

This is the inside of the living quarters.

This stone platform sits outside the oasis. It is written in Arabic and English and was created by the military and KBR personnel working with the locals to gather all the information regarding the oasis and the history behind it. The details of what it says are at the end of this blog.

The oasis is a body of water with an underground stream that never goes dry and it is sitting there, in the middle of the desert, in the middle of nothing.

Palm trees and all kinds of plant life grow in the soil surrounding the water. You won't find them growing anywhere else due to the dryness of the land.

It is believed that their soil is one of the richest in the world; however, without water, nothing can grow. If irrigated, their land would prosper like ours. Saddam oppressed the Iraqi people and kept them from doing so. We are teaching them how to irrigate their land and live off of it like we do here in the United States and they are beginning to grow crops, etc., a freedom they've never had before.

The following are a few pictures of different sunsets at the oasis.

As you can see in the following picture, there is a little village beside the oasis inside Camp Al-Asad. No one lives there at the moment. The information regarding this village, the people, and its history is included on the stone platform, which you can read at the end of this blog.

This is a MIG, a Russian jet fighter bought by the Iraqis that happens to be sitting in the middle of the oasis.

The following is the information that was gathered and provided on the stone platform:

Al-Asad Oasis and Palm Grove

A visit to the Al-Asad Oasis is literally like taking a step from a stark desert wasteland to a lush, green sanctuary. The pool teems with small minnows, some tan and others black. Frogs line the banks intermingled in the reeds, warily retreating to the water when someone approaches. Birds sing in the surrounding trees and bushes and occasionally, waterfowl visit the pool for a swim. It's a complete ecosystem.

According to Arab legend, Abraham, the patriarch of the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an, and other Islamic writings, visited the oasis at Al-Asad on his journey from Ur to Haran (Gen 11:31; Stories of the Prophets, Al Imam Ibu Kathir, Ibrahim, the Qur'an does not mention the journey). According to the legend, he stopped at the oasis, drank from its water, and bathed himself. He and his family camped here for a short time before moving onto Haran.

The Arabic name of the village near the oasis is Eyen Al-Asad, which means "Spring of the Lion". Perhaps the name was derived from a time when this area was a wilderness with all kinds of wild animals, including lions.

The oasis had neither settlement nor village before 1920 other than occasional occupation by Bedouins who passed through with their flocks and stopped for water. Over the centuries, most people in the region lived much closer to the Euphrates River, along its banks or flood plains. They preferred to stay closer to the lush land and trade route that the river naturally provided.

Around 1920, six large families from a town between Kirkuk and Mosul, left there and moved to the oasis. The Shitwi group formed the largest family. These families built the buildings of the village (that now stand in ruin), planted the date palm grove, and eventually built a school. In its prime, the palm grove provided a good cash crop for the village.

In 1985 Saddam Hussein decided to turn the surrounding area into an Iraqi Air Base, which he hired Yugoslavians to build. He paid the villagers a very small sum of money for their land and moved them to other locations, such as Hit, Baghdad. A few of the people remained behind and stayed unnoticed for ten more years, since at that time the base did not take in the oasis area. However, in 1995, the base was expanded to incorporate the oasis. The commander of the base found a document stating that all of the villagers had been evicted in 1985 and so he evicted the remaining villagers.

Marines, soldiers, and sailors took on a cleanup project of the oasis on April 16, 2005. These volunteers collected trash and debris from the water and surrounding area, including around the ruins of the buildings. Their efforts restored respect to the site.

Near the oasis is a stark reminder of the reality of death that follows life. Here lies an Iraqi cemetery from the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. Buried in shallow graves are the remains of soldiers and civilians, adults and children, those killed in that horrible conflict. Another project in May 2005 cleaned this area in efforts to bring an aura of respect to those fallen.

In March 2006, the 67th Area Support Group, Host Nation Section began a project with local Iraqis to clean the oasis and the surrounding palm grove. Iraqis were brought in to clean up the oasis by removing the weeds and trash around the water. The workers also prepared the date trees for the upcoming growing season. The workers climbed the trees barefoot, using equipment and techniques that have probably been used for hundreds of years to cut down old and dead tree limbs. This helped prepare the date trees which had not been cultivated for at least three years. Located within the palm grove are fifteen to twenty varieties of dates which are planted throughout the area, the ultimate goal of this project is to provide an excellent source of food for the villages in the area.

Regardless of the authenticity of Abraham's visit, people treat the oasis with reverence believing to the story of ancient visit. As one visits this site and stands by the pool they can reflect on its religious importance; to them the oasis is a step towards God. Perhaps that's all that really matters.

(Parts of this writing about the history of the oasis and the village at the Al Asad Air Base, Iraq came from an interview with Major General Ibrahim Muhammad of the Iraqi Army and one of his colonels on May 21, 2005, conducted by LCDR Terry Eddinger and CDR Rondall Brown.) In the spring of 2006, additional improvements were made to the oasis and palm grove, those actions were updated within this reading by Major Jim Oliver.

(Rewritten by E. Robertson)