Kuwait's fields were small, whereas Iraq has several gigantic spreads such as the northern Kirkuk field, now being eyed by both the Kurds and the Turks, and perhaps already sown with explosives which would be a nightmare to deal with if set ablaze.

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Twenty years later, Austrian astronomer Joseph von Littrow expanded on that idea, suggesting the excavation of huge trenches in the Sahara desert, which would be filled with kerosene and set ablaze.

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One air force officer complains that he was told he would be bombing rebels, but instead saw women running out of the huts he had attacked with their robes ablaze.

ECONOMIST: Sudan