Baghdad Eye

[attilavolciak07]

Iraq hopes to lure tourists to the capital, Baghdad by adding a new Ferris Wheel called the "Baghdad Eye", yes, not unlike the London Eye.
The ferris wheel plans to sit 650ft high, 207 feet higher than the London Eye. Adel al Ardawi, a Baghdad municipality spokesman said that "[t]his wheel will be taller than the iconic 443-foot London Eye."
Iraq has not commented on the price of this inventure or the timeline in completing it.
The UK Foreign Office has (obviously) advised British citizens it is not okay to go to Iraq, of course because of the war and daily bombings. A spokesperson said "The security situation in Iraq remains highly dangerous with a continuing high threat of terrorism throughout the country."

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wor...mote%2BTourism

I for one think this is ridiculous! Iraq needs to spend this money on infrastructure, not tourism. And who in their right mind would go to Baghdad in this state? They also want to build a man-made island resort, who will go to it, the rich Iraqi government officials?

[Caerid]

That is definitely a wasteful idea with their money, not to mention it would be huge target for a terrorist attack.

[attilavolciak07]

Exactly, they want to do this to attract Western citizens, but the Western citizens aren't even allowed to travel to Iraq.

[Senno]

No, we (US at least) can travel to Iraq. I can think of no reason to go, personally, but we can. The State Dept. warning is enough reason for me to stay away:

SAFETY AND SECURITY: The risk of terrorism directed against U.S. citizens and interests in Iraq remains extremely high. The Department of State continues to strongly warn U.S. citizens against travel to Iraq, which remains very dangerous.

[cristophe el perno]

They really should focus on stabalising the country a bit more before they try to pull in more tourists.
Apparently Iraqi Kurdistan (the less violent bit in the north) is now being promoted for tourism, which is fair enough, but even trying to build that in an are which is still ebing bombed fairly regularly is just silly.

The article doesn't specify when work will start/finish, so maybe its a plan for the future rather than next week?

[Poach]

Wonder how long it'll be before some Jihadist group blows it up...

On a more on-topic serious note, they have enough problems as it is, spending money on this is just stupid. No western tourist in their right mind would set foot in Iraq, as for other tourists I don't know, but I reckon they'll be avoiding the place as well...

[Rextherock]

It would still be better than to go to sweden in the summer.

[dutch81]

Thank god there are no snipers in Baghdad anymore because I would feel very vunerable on that wheel with no way to get away till it brought me down a few hundred feet.

But since it safe now ... the surge worked right? Where can I order tickets?

[attilavolciak07]

Thank god there are no snipers in Baghdad anymore because I would feel very vunerable on that wheel with no way to get away till it brought me down a few hundred feet.

But since it safe now ... the surge worked right? Where can I order tickets?

Bombs go off their every day, plus the Wheel would be an interest to the terrorists.

[dutch81]

But they told us the surge worked ... are you telling me that "I" have been lied to?

[Farnan]

Umm...

Maybe the idea is to start boondoggles in order to employ more Iraqis and boost the Iraqi economy. Building this ferris wheel will probably create many jobs in Iraq, and one of the major problems in Iraq is unemployment. It would create construction jobs in building it directly, jobs in factories to construct the parts, jobs in transportation to move the parts, jobs in management to manage the project, jobs in road construction and city cleanup to make it more attractive to tourists, and hundreds of more jobs to support the people working on this project (restaurants, clothing stores, housing) and the money pumped in the construction will then encourage Iraqis to spend it creating even more jobs.

Don't just think of the ferris wheel as just the ferris wheel, look at what is behind it.

[dutch81]

Maybe they should be building everyone a bomb shelter instead ... if you want to put alot of people into jobs. Seems like that is what the people really need.

[Farnan]

Maybe they should be building everyone a bomb shelter instead ... if you want to put alot of people into jobs. Seems like that is what the people really need.

Not really needed, Iraqi buildings are strong enough to survive the current bombing methods and it encourages insularism instead of going to market places and buying stuff. Bomb shelters encourage people to stay at home, and since buying off the internet isn't popular there it won't help the economy.

Also, they are not needed nearly as much as before, just look at the statistics from an anti-war website: http://icasualties.org/oif/IraqiDeaths.aspx

Also, in case some of you don't know, Iraq has a large budget surplus. There problem is not that they don't have enough money to spend, they just have a problem spending it. This is a way that they can use some of the surplus to build their economy.

[Oglethorpe1983]

This is perfect...I priase the Baghgad Eye... if anything this is a sign that Iraq has truely become a changed nation....

The construction of a ridiculous object for the sole purpose of attractive tourists and their money...is truely a sign Iraq is on its way to becoming a western power....

Next there will be the Baghdad Eye Sky Cafe...

and Saddam Hussein Bobble head dolls

And A new brand of crappy movies

Dude wheres my Camel

God Bless America:usflag:

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

I want to be a tourist in Iraq, but a ferris wheel isn't the reason why, and I doubt international tourists would be drawn to it.

That said, Farnan is right too.

[boofhead]

Stupid. It'd be blown up, and tourists would be targeted by death squads. Great.

I wouldn't go to Iraq in a million years.

[Farnan]

Stupid. It'd be blown up, and tourists would be targeted by death squads. Great.

I wouldn't go to Iraq in a million years.

If it gets blown up that would be a good thing (as long as no one dies), then they can build it again and keep the jobs they made...

[attilavolciak07]

If it gets blown up that would be a good thing (as long as no one dies), then they can build it again and keep the jobs they made...

And spend more money to rebuild and most likely find a new spot for it, and have security heavily guard it, but that would attract even more attention from terrorists, and the fact that Iraq won't be stable until years just tells me this whole idea is worthless, yes it might provide jobs, but honestly how many tourists will go to Baghdad when their governments are highly against travel there and the risk of being attacked. Ultimately, this will lose money that should go to something meaningful.

But they told us the surge worked ... are you telling me that "I" have been lied to?

[Farnan]

And spend more money to rebuild and most likely find a new spot for it, and have security heavily guard it, but that would attract even more attention from terrorists, and the fact that Iraq won't be stable until years just tells me this whole idea is worthless, yes it might provide jobs, but honestly how many tourists will go to Baghdad when their governments are highly against travel there and the risk of being attacked. Ultimately, this will lose money that should go to something meaningful.

The problem is it can't go to anything more meaningful. The IG has more money then it can spend.

[attilavolciak07]

The problem is it can't go to anything more meaningful. The IG has more money then it can spend.

Not from recent reports.


Iraq is also building a resort island with a "six-star hotel", and honestly, from my experience from living in Doha, they use it for themselves. Not all the time, but they make it hugely expensive but allow themselves in for free, and for a country like Iraq (which is very rich from oil) I question their motives.