Iraqis, says one, are “an unruly mass of shirugi—slang for thick-headed Marsh Arabs—who need the rule of the rod, a strongman, to control them.”

有一个人说，伊拉克人是“一群不守规矩的shirugi（俚语，指愚笨的沼地阿拉伯人），需要棒压统治，需要一名强势之人来管住他们。”

youdao

Many of the Marsh Arabs, who have lived on their fragile, near-floating homes in this rare water world for millennia, have now been forced to flee as a result of the collapse of their habitat.

很多沼泽地带的阿拉伯人，几千年来他们一直生活漂浮在这片稀有的水域上的不够牢固的家中。如今由于栖息地的消失他们被迫背井离乡。

youdao

"The Marsh Arabs in Iraq were encouraged to revolt and then left to their fate when Saddam Hussein butchered them, " he said.

BBC: Hague: UK is 'at forefront' of action against Gaddafi

But Conservative MP David Tredinnick urged the government not to abandon Libyan rebels to their fate, drawing a parallel with Iraqi Marsh Arabs who rose up against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein following the 1991 Gulf War.

BBC: Hague: UK is 'at forefront' of action against Gaddafi

"The near-total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands under the regime of Saddam Hussein was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life as well as food in the form of fish and that most crucial of natural resources, drinking water, " according to Klaus Toepfer, the agency's executive director, whose comments are included in the report.

CNN: U.N.: Iraq's marshlands recovering