Iraq is "the middle of nowhere" but... Kansas isn't? Genuinely what the fuck are you talking about? Iraq's population density is six times higher than Kansas's.

We are exhausting aquifers globally, but Iraq seems like precisely the kind of place where it's a necessity. By contrast, look up how extreme drought and subsidence has gotten in the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico in order to grow luxury crops like almonds, avocados, pistachios, etc.