OMG! Disney is going to build a theme park in Baghad! Now I've seen everything!

[Joanne98]

War Propaganda: Disneyland goes to war-torn Iraq

Disneyland goes to war-torn Iraq, with a multi-million dollar entertainment complex, to be built on a 50 acre lot adjacent to the Green Zone.

The American-style amusement park will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum.

The occupation forces are of the opinion that Baghdad is "lacking in entertainment". General David Petraeus, is said to be a “big supporter” of bringing Disneyland to Baghdad.
Supported by the Pentagon, an unknown Los Angeles based holding company C3 of private equity investors, will be developing the "Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience". The park will be designed by Ride and Show Engineering (RSE),

RSE founders Eduard Feuer and William Watkins pioneered Walt Disney's "Imagineering", the design and engineering division of the Walt Disney Company, before setting up RSE as a separate corporate entity.

RSE has developed numerous large scale entertainment complexes around the world including a project at the Anaheim California Disney Complex.

Continued>>>>
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8837

[onehandle]

1. Read it again. It's not Disney. It's a company called RSE.

People who have worked for Disney in the past.

[Joanne98]

6. You're right...

RSE founders Eduard Feuer and William Watkins pioneered Walt Disney's "Imagineering", the design and engineering division of the Walt Disney Company, before setting up RSE as a separate corporate entity

[asjr]

2. I wonder who will take the title role in

The Thief of Baghdad? Paul Bremer?

[Speck Tater]

3. This a joke, right? You found it in The Onion?

Even if it ever gets built, which is highly unlikely, who would be foolish enough to go to a place where thousands of people crowd together patiently waiting for the next suicide bomber to blow himself up on the roller coaster and rain flaming debris down into the crowd?

Since so many people in that area already despise the cultural imperialism that is destroying their own culture, something like this would be nothing more than a great big symbolic target. I.e., a bomb magnet.

[Dervill Crow]

5. GMTA n/t

[Dervill Crow]

4. This isn't an article from The Onion?

Absurd. Unfuckingbelievable.

[Joanne98]

7. Mother Jones..Disneyland-Style Theme Park Set for Baghdad. Honest to God

Satire becomes reality. In the preview for "War, Inc." that Bruce posted below, private contractor John Cusack executes a war for the American government and then watches bewilderedly as a hip-hop star and her entourage invade the country right behind him. Soon English-language billboards and bumper stickers are everywhere.

That's ridiculous, right? An over-the-top display of how the encroachment of American culture and capitalism works. Leftist Hollywood hysteria.

Guess again, sucker:

Werner, chairman of C3, a Los Angeles-based holding company for private equity firms, is pouring millions of dollars into developing the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. It is being designed by the firm that developed Disneyland. "The people need this kind of positive influence. It’s going to have a huge psychological impact," Mr Werner said.
The 50-acre (20 hectare) swath of land sits adjacent to the Green Zone and encompasses Baghdad's existing zoo, which was looted, left without power and abandoned after the American-led invasion in 2003...
Success seems improbable at best. Resentment is sure to be created. How about some of the naivete and over-confidence that got us into so much trouble with this war in the first place? Do you have any of that for us, Mr. Werner?

Mr Werner, who has been sold a 50-year lease on the site by the Mayor of Baghdad for an undisclosed sum, says that the time is ripe for the amusement park. "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."
Sure. A massive Disneyland-style amusement park, operated for American profit, plunked in the middle of Baghdad — that won't be a target for hostilities. Not at all.

The project will cost $500 million (£250 million) and will be managed by Iraqis. Under the terms of the lease, Mr Werner will retain exclusive rights to housing and hotel developments, which he says will be both culturally sensitive and enormously profitable. "I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn't making money," he said. "I also have this wonderful sense that we're doing the right thing – we're going to employ thousands of Iraqis. But mostly everything here is for profit."
A $1 million skateboard park, the first phase of the development, will open in July.
I love the bolded quote. Am I being too cynical if I note that this is the logical conclusion of any American occupation? For all of my harrumphing, this was essentially inevitable.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/04/8057_disneylandstyle.html

[cliss]

8. Rephrase the title: they would 'like' to build -

Let's get real.

I'm an exporter, and I attended a meeting with the Ex Im Bank about 6 months ago. This is a funding entity, and they will put up money for foreign development, loans things of that nature.
During the speech, the question came up about Iraq. Someone asked, "So how are things going with Iraq development?" Meaning, there were a lot of business programs which were going to start...back in 2003???(not sure).

The speaker stopped, hesitated. He looked down on the floor. Finally said, "The situation with Iraq has not developed. Security is an issue, and we have not been able to start with our projects".

Meaning, Burger King and Pizza Hut can't get their stores opened on Saddam Avenue & Mullah Street. It's too damn dangerous.

So Disney can keep dreaming because it ain't gonna happen.