Firms look to open casino in Saddam's Babylonian palace in Iraq

[sabra]

Source: RIA Novosti

BAGHDAD, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - Iraq's investment committee is studying projects proposed by U.S. and Russian firms to turn Saddam Hussein's palace near the site of ancient Babylon into a tourist site with a casino, an Iraqi paper said.

Government paper Al-Sabah quoted Saleh al-Muslimawi, governor of the Babil Province about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad, as saying that the projects also entailed the restoration of museums in Babylon. He declined to give the companies' names.

Babylonian architectural and religious monuments are on the list of investment options compiled by the province's authorities, the paper said.

The lavish hill-top palace that belonged to former dictator Saddam Hussein - who was executed by hanging in December 2006 - overlooks the ruins of Babylon and the Euphrates River.

Iraqi historians and archeologists have opposed any investment projects in the area as potentially damaging to the historical sites, the newspaper said.

Read more: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080721/114550980.html

[tomg]

1. This is completely nuts on so many levels. nt

[global1]

3. Whadda Ya Mean - Haven't You Vacationed In Viet Nam Yet?.....nt

[awoke_in_2003]

14. I prefer

Holidays in Cambodia.

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Yes, Ceasar's Bagdhad would fit in well

Or, perhaps, a revival of The Sands

:sarcasm:

[SpiralHawk]

4. More republicon family values in action

Bringing fast-buck republicon finance crapola to Babylon, after having already looted the everlovin bejabbers out of the place.



By the rivers of babylon, there we sat down
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered zion.

By the rivers of babylon (dark tears of babylon)
There we sat down (you got to sing a song)
Ye-eah we wept, (sing a song of love)
When we remember zion. (yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)

By the rivers of babylon (rough bits of babylon)
There we sat down (you hear the people cry)
Ye-eah we wept, (they need their God)
When we remember zion. (ooh, have the power)

[flashl]

5. They hate us because we share our 'freedoms'. First, we shared our sex industry, now, gambling

Stolen Away

The man on the phone with the 14-year-old Iraqi girl called himself Sa'ad. He was calling long distance from Dubai and telling her wonderful things about the place. He was also about to buy her. Safah, the teenager, was well aware of the impending transaction. In the weeks after she was kidnapped and imprisoned in a dark house in Baghdad's middle-class Karada district, Safah heard her captors haggling with Sa'ad over her price. It was finally settled at $10,000.

...

Safah is part of a seldom-discussed aspect of the epidemic of kidnappings in Iraq: sex trafficking. No one knows how many young women have been kidnapped and sold since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq, based in Baghdad, estimates from anecdotal evidence that more than 2,000 Iraqi women have gone missing in that period. A Western official in Baghdad who monitors the status of women in Iraq thinks that figure may be inflated but admits that sex trafficking, virtually nonexistent under Saddam, has become a serious issue.

Time

[drdtroit]

6. Ah, the best that democracy has to offer. So sad in many ways. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Has Donald Trump signed on yet for this beauty?

[Botany]

8. Islamic fundies mixing w/ Vegas style Gambling, Drinking, and Girls

Might as well have an express check in lane for the car bombs.

BTW A casino on some of the most historic land in the world ..... now that is class.

[Indenturedebtor]

9. Well if it's good for our Corportions it's good for everyone!

Corporations are after all headed by the best citizens that Murika has to offer. Gawd has chosen them and blessed them with wealth and power (hallowed be his divine grab bag of kharmic goodies).

I don't see why any of you think that you have better judgement than Jeesoos? :shrug:

[Arctic Dave]

10. WOW. Maybe they can turn Abu Graib into

a hotel when they are done with that.

[truthisfreedom]

19. Graib Hotel! Sounds like it would sell all over the states.

[sourmilk]

11. Make sure to leave enough room for the brothel.

Sheesh.

[MilesColtrane]

12. Dedicate it to Bush's vision of a peaceful, unified Iraq.

"The Mirage"

[tomg]

13. Freedom is on the March,

And Wayne Newton is leading the band.

[Wilber_Stool]

15. Let's see, I'll have a

Babylon burger
A Hanging Garden salad
Cheezie-Ur fries
and a Coke.

[Wednesdays]

16. Aww, phooey! I was hoping McDonald's was going to get it first

That, or it being turned into a Disneyland. :eyes:

[kskiska]

17. Well, it'll extend Steve and Eydie's career

[enuegii]

18. Well, I guess they've got to

spend all that cash US soldiers and the Iraqi government have been tossing around somewhere.

"The Surge is working" my ass. They got the tribal warlords in the Anbar to stop fighting by handing out wads of cash. That's your tax dollars at work.

Does anyone want to guess what happens when we get tired of handing it out?

[dipsydoodle]

20. Will they change the name of Iraq

to Cuba2 and dig Batista out of his box to act as the token president. :shrug:

[bdamomma]

21. how sick.