The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) has provided a source of food and shelter throughout history and is linked culturally and spiritually with Iraq. Iraq dominated the world date market with 75% of the exported dates until the late 1970’s. This dominance was lost to other competitors as Iraq became involved in wars and trade embargoes were imposed. Dates still remained the second largest industry in Iraq but production was threatened by a large number of pests ranging from arthropods, fungi, nematodes, and phytoplasma. The Dubas bug (Ommatissus lybicus) is considered the number one arthropod pest of date palms in Iraq. The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) had controlled Dubas bugs through the aerial application of ULV pesticides prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Due to the loss of organic agricultural aircraft and security issues, aerial spraying was not done in 2004 and 2005. Infestation levels rose causing a significant decrease in date production. It was recognized that it was critical to implement control measures for the Dubas bug to improve the date production. In late 2005, the MOA in conjunction with Multi-National Forces - Iraq (MNF-I) began planning to conduct aerial spraying to control the Dubas bug in date palms in Iraq. This agricultural project was a joint effort lead by the MOA that took months to plan and execute. The final result was over 77,000 hectares of date palms were aerially sprayed to control Dubas bugs in Iraq.