US-backed plan sees shiny future for embattled Green Zone

[maddezmom]

In this undated image released by the U.S. military, planners envision the 'Tigris Woods Golf and Country Club' in the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. The U.S. military is pushing a five-year, $5 billion development plan to dramatically transform Baghdad's Green Zone, the secured enclave where the American Embassy and the Iraqi government is based, The Associated Press has learned. Hotels, a shopping center, condos and a soccer stadium are all envisioned in the plan, which its creators call a 'dream list' and its critics say is beyond the realm of possibility for a nation at war.
(AP Photo/U. S. Army)


BAGHDAD - 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.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080504/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_growing_the_green_zone;_ylt=Ak6iXU5SBR8RMm5nUqnVH_tvaA8F

[Smith_3]

1. ...

:crazy:

[Arctic Dave]

2. Every time I see one of these pie in the sky type of

scenarios I automatically think of the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" my other thought is the old Willie Nelson song "If you got the money Honey, I got the Time". Nothing is too absurd, as long as we are spending their money. I wonder what the Iraqis have to say about this?

[Elidor]

3. This is from the Onion, right?

This can't be real. THIS CAN'T BE REAL!!!

My head asplodes.

[maddezmom]

4. click on the pic in the article

there are lots of sketches. My mind exploded last week when I posted this in E&O;

Unbelievable headline of the Day: With violence down, Iraqis flock to revitalized Baghdad Zoo

With violence down, Iraqis flock to revitalized Baghdad Zoo
By ANNA JOHNSON

BAGHDAD (AP) -- Families stroll the park's sidewalks and picnic in the shade as laughing children clamor to see the main attraction -- lions once owned by Saddam Hussein's son, Odai.

Damaged after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the Baghdad Zoo has made a startling comeback, and thousands of Iraqis are flocking here to escape the city's grungy streets.

The zoo, located in the sprawling Zawra Park in the heart of Baghdad just outside the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, has been held up as an example of American reconstruction efforts. The military brought in new animals, rebuilt damaged exhibits and worked with international zoos and organizations to train the Iraqi zookeepers.

Still, the effects of war are all too plain. Because transporting refrigerated meat is too difficult, donkeys are raised in a fenced-off area. They are euthanized and fed to the lions. And although the zoo is far more serene than other parts of the capital, U.S. military helicopters frequently buzz overhead.

more:http://www.dailymail.com/News/200804250056

and then this:
U.S. air strikes kill 10 in Baghdad (74 wounded)
Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD, April 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Friday it had killed 10 fighters in helicopter missile strikes and ground battles in eastern Baghdad overnight.

Sources at two hospitals in Baghdad's Sadr City slum said they had received the bodies of 11 people killed in air strikes, all men. Another 74 people, including nine women and 12 children, were wounded, the hospital sources said.

In a statement, the U.S. military said soldiers had killed three fighters who attacked them with mortars. Two helicopter strikes against militants planting roadside bombs killed six, and a third strike killed one.

Eastern Baghdad's Sadr City slum and surrounding areas have seen fighting between Shi'ite militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces for the past month since Iraq's government launched a crackdown on militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.


more:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


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