The escape saved his loved ones, but when Saleem returned four years later he found his only other treasure -- his vineyard -- had been crushed under the boots of the dictator's forces during their genocidal "Anfal" campaign.

In 1991 Saddam was defeated by a US-led coalition in the first Gulf War, and American aircraft began to patrol a "no-fly zone" to prevent Saddam's return in force to Kurdish lands. But they came too late for Saleem's vines.

Now, three years after US troops returned to Iraq to finally topple Saddam, the valleys of the northern province of Dohuk are turning green once more.

"There was no need to destroy our farms and vineyards. That was cruel. But by God's grace we are bouncing back," said 53-year-old Saleem, crouching under the trees in a vineyard on a hillock in Beri Bahar, or "Before Spring".

This month, Saddam will go on trial for ordering the Anfal campaign, in which nearly 100,000 Kurds were killed and more than 3,000 villages destroyed -- some of them under barrages of poison-gas bombs.

During Iraq's war with Iran in the 1980s the country's Kurdish minority had profited from the chaos to develop their separatist ambitions. Saddam's reaction was brutal and the region's infrastructure was shattered.

Now, lush green vines supported by T-shaped concrete trellises stand in Saleem's 2.5 hectare estate, heavy with bunches of ripe green, red and purple grape varieties ready to be sold in the Dohuk market.

"It took me nearly a decade to nurture my vineyards back to strength," says Saleem, whose vineyard is part of a major project aimed at boosting the region's grape production.

Saleem sold 30 tonnes of grapes last year at about 1,500 dinars (1.2 dollars) per kilogram. Now, he says, he wants to make Iraq "self-sufficient in grapes and not depend on imports from Turkey, Syria or Saudi Arabia".

His neighbours are following suit, and now more and more vineyards can be seen sprouting from plains and hillsides throughout Dohuk province.

The Kurdish region of northern Iraq, already used to running its own affairs, has been spared the mayhem gripping Baghdad and the west of the country, where insurgent and sectarian attacks have killed thousands.

Now the region is taking the lead in reviving grape production.

"Not many know that grape is Iraq's first fruit," said horticulturist Zuhair al-Amil, who is helping to restore vineyards in Kurdistan by using modern technology provided by US-funded development agencies.

"In the past two decades farmers suffered heavily and grape production fell drastically," he explained, noting that Iraq had about 43 million vines in 1977, compared with only 35 million date palms.

"War with Iran and the Anfal attacks destroyed nearly 10 million plants. We want to rebuild the crop now as Iraq has the ability to produce various varieties of grapes," he added.

To boost production, the US-funded Agricultural Reconstruction and Development Project of Iraq (ARDI) launched a project to help Kurdish farmers plant more grape seedlings.

"We provide them with new technology like drip irrigation, we teach them how to prune the crop and also make them aware of new trellising systems," said Diego Hay, senior grants manager with ARDI.

Villages like Beri Bahar still use a traditional furrow irrigation system for planting grapes which offer a lower yield than drip irrigation.

Hay said the agency has set up three private sector grape nurseries in each of three Kurdish provinces, which have nurtured 1.2 million vine cuttings at a cost to the United States of 28,000 dollars.

"These nurseries will produce seedlings which will be sold to farmers in the entire country, who in turn can plant them in their vineyards and raise new crops based on new systems," Hay told AFP.

Farmers still fear, however, that water shortages and a lack of proper cold storage for harvested grapes could hamper development.

"We need water desperately," says Saleem, who lifts rain water up to his vineyard from a small concrete tank he has built at the base of the hill.

"I need a bigger tank. Many farmers like me need more water, and with the help of drip irrigation systems we can even use water more judiciously."

The modernisation of Kurdistan's vineyards is good for business, but one potential source of greater profit margins will have to remain untapped. No one in this largely Muslim region is producing any wine.

"I am a Hajji. How can I make wine from my grapes?" says 50-year-old Kamal Khalid Mohammed, a farmer with an agricultural engineering degree whose two-hectare farm has been converted into Dohuk's grape nursery.

A devout Muslim who has been on the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Mohammed says he would not support a domestic wine industry despite the prospect of more lucrative margins.

"We will produce grapes for making juice, confectionery and as a table fruit -- but we are staying away from wine."