Welcome to the Disneyland drive by: Iraq and its Billion dollar Green Zone Resort
I'm not kidding you. This story is right out Kafka's The Metamorphosis
Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad.That's all part of a five-year development "dream list" - or what some dub an improbable fantasy - to transform the U.S.-protected Green Zone from a walled fortress into a centerpiece for Baghdad's future.
But the $5 billion plan has the backing of the Pentagon and apparently the interest of some deep pockets in the world of international hotels and development, the lead military liaison for the project told The Associated Press.
For Washington, the driving motivation is to create a "zone of influence" around the new $700 million U.S. Embassy to serve as a kind of high-end buffer for the compound, whose total price tag will reach about $1 billion after all the workers and offices are relocated over the next year.
"When you have $1 billion hanging out there and 1,000 employees lying around, you kind of want to know who your neighbors are. You want to influence what happens in your neighborhood over time," said Navy Capt. Thomas Karnowski, who led the team that created the development plan.
Karnowski said a deal already has been completed for Marriott International Inc. to build a hotel in the Green Zone. He also said a possible $1 billion investment could come from MBI International, a conglomerate that focuses on hotels and resorts and is led by Saudi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber.
Gregor Samsa has nothing on this plan. John McCain may have to revise his 100 years in Iraq position to accommodate this proposal. This baby may take centuries to complete. "Welcome to Lake Tahoo-Baghdad." Nicole previously wrote about last week, Magic Kingdom In The Emerald City?
Siun has a great piece up and wants to know who will bring justice to the Iraqi people. Justice and a $5 Billion 5 Star Green Zone
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Multi-National Force—Iraq strongly condemns today’s attacks near a hospital in Balad Ruz, located 50 km east of Baqubah, which killed 31 Iraqis and wounded 52, including children.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq continues their malicious tactics against the people of Iraq and their way of life. They have no respect for the rule of law and Iraqi values, and seek violence and chaos in Iraq for their own corrupt agenda...read on
Jon Perr has an excellent post about the use of a certain type of propaganda talking point that Republicans and their "little helpers" in the media use to try and mislead the American people. I've posted them before (Rep. Peter King)---citing major American city violence and comparing it to Baghdad.
Downplaying the risks of being gunned down while waiting in line for the Tilt-a-Whirl or running over an IED while driving a bumper car, RSE's March declared:
"Well, you live here in Southern California and there's drive-bys and everything else. So there's danger everywhere, and I think the key thing is this will be tremendous for Baghdad."
If it seems like contractor John March sounds like an anchor for Fox News, that's because he does. Back on August 26, 2003, Fox's Brit Hume reassured his viewers that liberal California was a much more dangerous place for Americans than occupied Iraq:
"Two hundred and seventy seven U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, which means that, statistically speaking, U.S. soldiers have less of a chance of dying from all causes in Iraq than citizens have of being murdered in California...which is roughly the same geographical size. The most recent statistics indicate California has more than 2,300 homicides each year, which means about 6.6 murders each day. Meanwhile, U.S. troops have been in Iraq for 160 days, which means they are incurring about 1.7, including illness and accidents, each day."
In Hume's defense, he was only parroting the line of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for whom Baghdad in June 2003 was a cake-walk compared to Washington, DC:...read on
I hear the theme park is going to have some pretty realistic first-person shooter simulators.
Ridiculous.
Yeah, this sounds about right.
The men who are enslaved to wealth can never be honest. There is no limit to human greed and folly.
and what do the iraqi people do for.........
jobs
food
housing
sanitation
schools
hospitals
etc. ???????????????
we have spent enough on bush's lies, i want our money spent
on all the deficiencies we have in America.....see the above list for us also.
dadams @ 5:
A study group (ISG) looked at some of the alternatives you mention but they just didn't have the same pizzaz.
I'm not sure whether this theme park belongs in Fantasy Land, NotTomorrow Land, or Never Never Land.
I can come up with a zillion snarks, but this is just so bizarre that the story seems almost like a snark.
Jesus Christ, soldiers are getting the shit blown out of them, Iraqis suffering the same tragic incidents and someone somewhere is now talking about building a hotel and amusement park on those same blood stained sands?
Too bad they didn't plan for the end of this war as far ahead as they are planning this.
You know what else would be cool? For the whole thing to levitate up above cloud and mortar and rocket fire level, so that it wouldn't be like an emerald prison.
Just a prediction, but I think they might have trouble finding investors.
It sounds more like a planted story to make people think the situation on the ground is really improved.
Well, at least Baghdad will get its own (rather small) monorail. That's an infrastructure upgrade, right?
*snark off*
dadams @ 5:
As corporate employees, they will have the same rights and priveleges that 19th coal miners used to have when they worked for the mines & lived in the company town and got everything they needed from the company store, even saw the company doctor, although it would all always cost more than they made and they were little more than indentured servants.
Wake up, Baghdad and New Orleans have much in common. After they were both ruined, they were taken over and whatever they had of value was divided up and passed out by the occupiers. Whoever's left there must work for the new overlords, for slave wages, if they want to get by.
Whoever doesn't like it can leave.
I think the plan is that if they build all this stuff it will just be 'too nice' to blow up.
And who wouldn't kill to see the Disney-Iraq animatronic Hall of the
PresidentsGreat Satan?Think it's too early to reserve space for a Wal-mart or two? They are going to need some place to sell cheap knockoff souvenirs to kids whose parents can't afford the expensive Disney crap.
We could kick the conniving, war-making neo-conservatives out of the Administration and the Pentagon, revamp our foreign policy, rethink our domestic agenda, restructure our whole approach to other nations in the world, and begin running America the way our founding fathers envisioned it should be run. Which, by the way, they put on paper in a document called the U.S. Constitution.
We would start minding our own business, respect other countries and cultures, and adhere to our own unique values, principles, and heritage. Live and let live would be our motto.
This way there would be no need to declare war on anybody, nor them on us, and the miseries of World War III might never come to pass.
Just Dreaming
let me guess....
the wave pool is just an ordinary pool with mortar shells hitting it.
and you wonder why the iraqis are pissed off.
They should rebuild the Twin Towers there.
Blue Lensman @ 6:
these are not alternatives, they are basics. how can you be so dismissive of
others needs? i do not understand, unless you feel entitled as so man
Americans do. 911 was a terrible moment for our country, but compared
to what we have done in Iraq, it is just a mesquito bite. i don't take 911
lightly, so don't spam me for pointing out what i perceive as a major
difference. we are recovering for a one day attack, we have been in
iraq for 5 yrs now. justice has been bent over and hog tied in iraq.
I was thinking of some comment about wanting some of whatever substance they're high on, but after some consideration I decided against it.
Even the most powerful substances I can think of; even an absolute ego death experience would leave me with more lucidity than these psychopaths seem to have.
Oh, so you don't do 'nation building' but 'resort' building is ok? And who's paying for this? The long national brain cramp goes on...
roooth @ 12:
i agree with you, the corporations of the world, run it at the expense
of those they pretend to serve.
so the saudi's and their american whore counterparts get richer, while u.s. taxpayers pick up the tag for security, and as an extra special bonus, the washington suits will have a place to stay and play where they won't be electrocuted or poisoned by the water . . . colonialism at its finest!
pissed off patricia @ 15:
How about a few TGIFridays and Chili's? A Pottery Barn, a Krispy Kreme, 7 or 8 Starbucks....
This is colonialism, plain and simple. We're repeating the Philippines fiasco. One day we'll pay bad for breaking Iraq. That day may come soon, or 40 years from now, but it'll come.
It's just a distraction. Who wouldn't rather get on an amusement ride instead of lobbing mortars into the green zone?!?!?! sheesh
What will they come up with next? No sorry.....don't answer that.
Drunk on greed and power.
This stuff is so insane it's more like fiction then fact.
L.A. Confidential @ 16:
This is another Bush administration episode where arrogance meets ignorance. If this garbage was presented under any other president whose name wasn't Bush, the president would say "You're all fired."
That came out wrong:
L.A. Confidential @ 16:
You should change your name to "Ron Paul" and run for president!
Barry @ 29:
It's the ideal pasture for unregulated cowboy capitalism. No rules, no laws, no order. The Wild Wild East.
Here you shameless repugs trash, let me rip the wound open for you so you can pour a 5 lb bag of kosher salt in it.
Iraqi hate us for our Fun! So I guess we showed them.
pissed off patricia @ 8:
I'm quite certain there never was any plan for an end to the war.
The goal is a Global Gated Community.
Just because the local populations and the guards outside the gates are slaughtering each other "shouldn't bother our beautiful minds."
Andy K Jong Il @ 11:
For a few billion more they might as well build high speed rail lines between their cities and perhaps some light rail systems in the cities. Maglev of course, we don't need them using our oil.
I'll know this attraction will succeed when El Al starts flying into Baghdad.
YourMom @ 32:
I'm not that hungry for power. But thanks for the compliment.
oh yeah, surround the US fort with women and children.
PUTZ
John - all due respect - STOP.
You are saying - OMG, can you believe Hitler just invaded Poland?
You dont understand who you are dealing with. These people are animals.
Believe it? I expected it! ... and MORE.
You need to stop dealing with these people as if they are making some mistake and start dealing with them as what they are - people that think this sort of thing is good and the right thing to do. Honestly, they are the enemy of all that is rational and decent. You really shouldnt deal with them as if they had either made a mistake or lost their way -
They really are that bad. They need to be identified as such in no uncertain terms and dealt with as if they mean us all harm - which they do.
Andy K Jong Il @ 25:
Great ideas! Grab the blueprints and pencil that in.
Now we know why they named it the green zone. There is plenty of green to be made there.
Do the Iraqis get to vote on our plans for their country. What about the zoning laws? Is the green zone zoned commercial?
Their going to need to have a pretty large moat around that castle.
I thought we were there to spread freedom and democracy, not commercialism. But hey, I guess the Iraqis would like the shlock you can get in McDonald's Happy Meal, while dodging sniper fire.
Reminds me of the parody of "It's a Small World":
"It's the Real World" by Duck Logic:
http://lirama.net/song/32597
Send Americans to a shithole, they'll turn it into a resort
"Greetings from Guantanamo Bay ... and the Sickest Souvenir Shop in the World"
L.A. Confidential @ 41:
Remember the lesson of the Maginot line. Not even the Alps stopped Hannibal.
What good would it be? You could never go outside the complex.
Once, while doing some Engineering work for the Saudi Government (putting in Embassies) they put me up in the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur. The place was absolutely beautiful, the food was excellent, but there was automatic weapons going off in the streets for four days and I couldn't leave the place. Even heaven is hell if you can't leave.
So this place in Iraq will be another big waste of American Taxpayer money.
Riiiigghhht.. Luxury hotel and a shopping mall... in the heart of Baghdad's green zone.... I can just see the throngs now, pining to sign up for a total 10 day vacation package to this 'resort' in the middle of a Iraq and its... uhhh war... uh no, occupation, err, no civil war, ahh, wait, its a civil strife.. no wait... I know what this is... It's two, two, two taste treats in one, war and occupation... yes? no?...Maybe just a few dead enders still making trouble... huh, maybe? no??? Ehh ya know what? This plan? Crazy is a word that comes to mind. I don't think so... Fagettaboutit.. This is just fantasy braindead wishful thinking... Talk about pretending this Bush created shitstorm is all puppies and kittens... Good grief, check please....what nonsense.
That navy captain ought to know better....I guess they'll just equip the whole area with a force field to stop all those pesky mortal shells and other sundry ordinance from raining down on all those happy vacationing shoppers...yea yea, that's the ticket, impervious shields, right after they invent those laser rayguns for the frikkin sharks... OR maybe this is exactly what it appears... Another idiot scheme by another fucking moron in the finest Bushco tradition... sheesh, makes me ashamed to be a navy vet with associations like this meathead excuse for a navel officer..............JD
Andy K Jong Il @ 25:
Whatever you do, don't put up a "Target" store. The whole thing is going to be one big target.
Just a matter of priorities
The diplomats and high powers-that-be get luxury hotels and our troops get showers wired to electrocute them.
If California is truly more dangerous than Iraq, Bush is negligent to not order our troops in California to wear full battle rattle and drive in uparmored humvees.
overheard at the new theme park:
"mommy mommy, can we ride 'Pirates of the Hallburton' again, Please mommy pleasepleaseplease?"
John F A @ 48:
TARGET !!! LOL, thanks John.
General_Rennenkampf @ 26:
They are protecting their greedy ass oil interests using our finest and lying to the hilt, false papers and a gang of repugs and foreign thugs.
IMPERIALISM!
repugs are going to suck up all their oil and leave them hopeless. And Israel will leave with the oil.
lost_nacf_gop @ 50:
Or "Oil Pirates of the Middle East" or How about "Big Rolling Thunder Mountain"
dadams @ 5:
Anon @ #39
Exactly!!! They cannot be shamed into changing, they have no shame. They don't think they're doing anything wrong. The damage they cause is completely irrelevant to them because those who are damaged by them are completely irrlelvant to them.
They are murdering sociopaths, treating them with any ezpectation of sane behavior is really, really stupid.
Saint Augustine @ 36:
Why can't we get that stuff? I'll leave my mitts off their oil, too.
Baghdad today is
probablya rotten choice to even contemplate building a Disney, but it would do well in that part of the world someday, imo. Amusement parks and cute little family-oriented animated critters are universally popular. Now the crass commercialization, from the Disney owned hotels down to the "mouse ears" you can buy everywhere, is simply American.They are suppose to clean up after the white people.
They ain't no better than other brown people.
An amusement park for Iraqis to look at.
Ugly American
I'd like to point out that Hume's "analysis" includes only US soldiers, not Iraqi civilians or service members, and then compares them to California civilians. Statistically, what is the average number of US military service members killed in California ever year? I'd say it's considerably less than 277. Yet he doesn't do the math for the population at large for Iraq, so the comparison is completely moot. Nice to know, though, that he can justify the deaths of our own kids for his own pompous ego. Just another example of how these blowhards don't give a damn for anyone.
Someone was just telling me the other day that Nicaragua is now a destination resort community... nothing surprises me anymore with these disaster capitalists...
Can you picture US troops as your valets and your matre D' s?
P.D. @ 42:
There's a difference between freedom and democracy, and commercialism?
It's exactly what our WarLord President means when he says "freedom and democracy" ..
And I'm not just being snarky ..
"They hate us for our freedoms .. Now go shopping .."
This whole story sounds like something in some bizarre fictional novel. Level a country with bombs and bullets and then build a fu*king amusement park to cheer up those remaining alive. Sure the handicap parking spaces must outnumber the regular ones, but hey that's what happens in wars. Kids and adults lose arms and legs.
Let the vultures loose and see how fast they can clean the bones of Iraq. Making some financial lemon aid out of our very own created lemons.
A stupid idea, a waste of money, and an arrogant self indulgent fantasy. Typical from the damn pentagon and Americans in general.
It's a world of Terror
A world of Mistrust
Where you die like a dog just for riding the bus
Where the East and the West
Fight for global conquest
It's The third World After All...
pissed off patricia @ 61:
I guess that they can dispense with the usual safety warnings about keeping your arms and legs inside the vehicles at all times, then huh?
Not to mention charging the Iraq survivors an arm and a leg to get in to the amusement park...
LibertyLover @ 64:
As I understand it we will charge each Iraqi one barrel of oil for admission. To get on the blackwater ride it will be three barrels of oil.
We're going to shove our way of life into their country even if we have to kill every one of them to do it.
Just to see if this will work, why not try building one of these things in NOLA. Down in the district where nothing has been touched since the last winds of Katrina blew by. I'm sure it would be a big hit there too. People coming from miles away, winding their way through rotted homes and rusted cars just to get to have some disney like fun.
pissed off patricia @ 61:
Have you ever seen HBO's version of Barbarians At The Gate? 'Cause that's the vibe I'm getting.
Andy K Jong Il @ 68:
No HBO in this house. I refuse to pay the cable company any more money than I have to, to get basic tv, but I'll check out the link you provided. Thank you!
when they say it's NOT about the money......
IT'S ABOUT THE MONEY
We must be winning the occupation since they're planning a luxury resort. It's good they're thinking ahead too. The Iraqi's can have jobs after the oil companies suck all the oil out of the ground.
It's like chimpy sat down with his boys and said ok, what can we do to fuck with the Iraqis more.
Can you imagine 10ft high white cartoon caricatures welcoming the tourists. It's gonna be taller than the Hussein statue?
I think what scares me the most is that some delusion people take these insane proposals seriously, as if they were actual possibilities.
A place full of luxury hotels, a shopping center and condos... corporate America's wet dream. This is their Utopian ideal, where there's nothing to do but spend money and help rich people get even wealthier.
anon @ 39, yep gotta agree!
Andy K Jong Il @ 68:
If it's good enough for Mickey it's good enough for the Iraqi people!
Of course, like everything else in fantasy land, "Mickey" will pocket all the profit, that is if such an empire-toothed, hubris-honed, nearsighted, Allahdamned venture ever turns one.
I did a post about this Diney Land venture in the green zone on Saturday, April 26... Damn I posted it a bit too early I suppose.
Andy K Jong Il @ 11:
That sounds more like a Shelbyville kind of idea...
I'll bite... are they moving the United States of Amerikkka over there? Wonderful!
the iraqis sure are lucky this inevitable train wreck doesn't need electricity. there's enough 100% pure all-american weapons-grade stupid already pumped into it to keep it running for at least 100 years, just in time for our troops to stand down and stay forever.
aarrgghh @ 81:
To be run on Iranian nuclear power.
The exportation of Disneyland, McDonald's, rap music and porn videos will do more to destroy the stranglehold of 7th Century Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East than all the military weapons the United States can launch against the Muslims.
this is so far beyond bizarre,a f***ing nightmare.my brain just can't process it!
drago @ 83:
Aww, and here I was hoping the Fundie Muslims and the abomination called the Disney corporation would destroy each other. Why do you have to spoil a perfect fantasy in my beautiful mind ;) (sarcasm for the sarcasm-impaired.)
Will it have a starbucks?.
It's a Small World After All....
Autopia will be muuuch more interesting with ied's
I call it the Disney-fication of the planet. Export cheap crap culture, in over-priced theme parks (selling eveything made in China), with grease-burger "culture" spreading faster than democracy every will, and corporate fat-cats get rich, but the "average American" benefits naught. Sound about right?
(another) $5 billion in Iraq (for amusements). $0 for America and Katrina.
bitter Edwin Hussein @ 90:
On both of your two comments#89 & 90, you nailed it.
I'm looking at a bottomless well of cluelessness.
hmm. more like kafka's "the castle" than "metamorphosis," but i take your point.
like "the castle" not just for the obvious reasons, but also because to this day the novel remains unfinished.
Only 755 million $ needed by the World Food Programme to feed and give crops to the world's poor. "Only" 5 billion $ to build a resort in the middle of a war zone. The world we live in...
Look up the word 'ridiculous' in any dictionary and the first definition should The United States.
DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN!!!!
No wonder the Iraqis hate our guts and want us out of THEIR country. disneyland-baghdad edition, what a freaking joke!
What lamebrained moron came up with that idea???
Mickey Moussad- just what the world needs. Definitely not an E-Ticket attraction.
pissed off patricia @ 40:
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