THE HOT HOLIDAY DESTINATION: IRAQ?

New York Post ^ | September 20, 2008 | AMIR TAHERI

[Kaslin]

THE way Barack Obama talks of Iraq, you'd think the whole county is a sea of fire and blood, created by the United States. So he might be surprised to learn that tour operators in Europe and the Middle East are touting this "sea of fire and blood" as a new holiday destination.

One program just put on the market by Terre Entiere, a leading French tour operator, offers a "Christmas Pilgrimage" in December to Iraq's biblical sites, some of which date back more than 2,000 years.

Another program starts in January. Called "Forgotten History," it includes visits to some of the most ancient sites of human civilization in Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia.

"Frankly, we were surprised by the positive echoes we had as soon as we launched our program," says Pierre Simon, a spokesman for the French company marketing the Iraqi holidays. "People from many European countries, not just France, are showing interest. They want to go and see for themselves."

That Iraq should be a tourist destination is no surprise. Mesopotamia, or the Land of the Two Rivers, is universally recognized as the birthplace of civilization.

It was there that the first cities appeared and the first governments took shape. Sumer and Akkad invented the first forms of writing, the first bureaucracies and the first organized religious doctrines. In its heyday, Babylon, with its "hanging gardens," was the world's largest metropolis.

The first ever book, the Epic of Gilgamesh, was written in Mesopotamia some 3,000 years ago.

[freema]

Hang on, I'll get my shoes on and go with you.

[USMCPOP]

“Hang on, I’ll get my shoes on and go with you. “

Ma, hold on a sec. I’ll have Tan make up some Tungsten carbide tips for those heels.

[freema]

OK. While I'm waiting, I'll just grab my lipstick.

[usmcobra]

Moi?

;)

[freema]

LOL. Got a funny story about MOI?

During and after boot camp, all these ancronyms were being tossed left and right, right? SOI, MCT, MCB, when one day, some one “emailed” MOI?

I get a private email from a family member asking, “What’s MOI?”

[Marine_Uncle]

I can see it all now. Brochures showing the joy in visiting Sadr City. Taking bus tours to see where Saddam's statue was ripped down and the local's beat his face with their shoes.
Special side tours to the military bunkers where VX nerve gas cannisters where stocked along side French manufactured 155 artillery shells.
For an extra charge. Visit a prison to see where Saddam's sadist threw people into shredders.
Of course side tours to visit the killing fields where the Iraqi gassed thousands of Kurds at a time.
For those with a lot extra bucks. Side tours to a rebuild bomb factory in the triangle of death area, say main street off the chicken factory in al Mahmudiya.
But what the heck. Iraq is on the mend.

[fabian]

well how then does Obama compare to Saddam, realistically? Can you admitt that that was a stupid statement?

[freema]

Actually, not a bad idea! I’d say it might be awhile yet, and they’ll probably need to get a sworn statement from Aman?gee!a-hadji that this all actually happened, but here’s a blueprint for them:

http://www.escape2poland.co.uk/auschwitz_tour.html

[Marine_Uncle]

I see what you are getting at. Let the world see first hand as how brutal Saddam’s regime really was. My list was intended as sarcasm but I see the merit of what you suggest.