Is This The Same IRAQ?

From the New York Post.

Is there another Iraq in the world.Somebody tell me it isn't so.

Vacation in Iraq?

"THE HOT HOLIDAY DESTINATION: IRAQ?"
THE HOT HOLIDAY DESTINATION: IRAQ? - New York Post

Amir Taheri
Posted: 3:26 am
September 20, 2008

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.