Huge Disneyland-Style Park Comes to Baghdad
Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 11:29PM A multi-million dollar entertainment park is in the planning and development stages in Baghdad, Iraq. Llewellyn Werner, chairman of a Los Angeles based holding company for private equity firms, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars and has taken out a 50 year lease from the mayor of Baghdad on 50 acres that surrounds the Baghdad zoo. The plan is to build a massive amusement park encompassing the zoo that provides Iraqis recreation as well as jobs.
WERNER: “The people need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact. I think people will embrace it. They’ll see it as an opportunity for their children regardless if they’re Shia or Sunni. They’ll say their kids deserve a place to play and they’ll leave it alone.”
PAUL BRINKLEY, Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Business Transformation: “There are all sorts of investment opportunities all over Iraq. But it’s not just hydrocarbons. Half the Iraqi population is under the age of 15. These kids really need something to do.”
GEN David Petraeus is said to be a “big supporter” of the project.
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Reader Comments (5)
Ahh ! It's the Ole, "Keep em entertained so they don't have time to think trick." What movie was it that the gov said, Let us have six month of games, so the people will be entertained and not worry about the murders that have taken place here?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BVNN1wqw3k
Ah, I see. Recreation and fun are only good enough for non-Arabs? I'm sure an amusement park will seduce Iraqis into forgetting there is a war going on. </sarcasm>
It's a great venture economically and for the human spirit. When my husband came back from Iraq for his two week leave we went to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, and it was just what the doctor ordered. I'd even call it healing. I hope Iraqis get to experience the same sort of joy of life with their families that such an enterprise can offer.
Just what the Iraqi people want - an American Corporation trying to profit from war. Even though there's still not 24 hours of electricity, and clean water is iffy.
I know, Iraqis don't want leisure time, recreation, fun with their families or a boom in the job market. Bad USA!
They don't want it at the expense of or as a result of a war. You know, bombs and bullets...
http://thinkprogress.org/
Read it and weep.