Most Westerners visualize Bedouin Arabs as people of the desert. However, fifty thousand Bedouin live in the swampy delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They are the Ma'dan (or Marsh Arabs). Ma'dan reed houses are built on tiny, man-made islands of grass fenced off and supported by increasing layers of weeds and mud, to prevent flooding of the houses. Woven reed mats, exported to other markets in Iraq and the Middle East, provide much of the Ma'dans' income...