KINGBOBOFTHENORTH
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2006
- Messages
- 2,863
As reported on the cap News website:
SADR CITY, Iraq (CAP) - As U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies wade into a first test of their new "surge" strategy here in this bucolic slum, local officials are already lamenting one casualty that could have profound effects on this fledgling democracy and the region in general.
"Despite all the problems, as late as last week we thought we still might open," said Sadr City Provisional Mayor Maleek al Abriam as he stood outside Saddam's former Palace of the Divine Me. "Now it's on hold indefinitely. There is no timetable."
Saddam's old palace had been renamed Cinderella's Castle, and it's the shining jewel of a sprawling $37 billion theme park that has seen sectarian violence shutter its once promising doors. Disney Iraq, or Mesopotisney as the locals call it, promised to pull large segments of this Baghdad suburb out of a three-decades-long grinding poverty. Instead, it has been a largely iconic reminder of glorious plans gone awry.
"This was supposed to be what everyone pointed to when they discussed the success of democracy in Iraq, sort of a staple of Western culture that took root and brought hope to a nation," said veteran character coach Bobby Eliot. Mr. Eliot was flown over early on in the project to help Iraqis develop the complex character matrix that makes up a Disney park.
"It's failed pretty miserably so far," Eliot said. "We're losing an average of two dwarfs a week. I think we've gone through seven Dopeys alone. IED's during the Main Street Iraq parades have killed scores, and sectarian clashes between the Sunni character-actors and Shiite vendors have been growing. We had to send a shish kabob-skewered Daisy Duck to the hospital just this morning."
The park's delayed opening is a blow to the local residents of Sadr City, who for months have been teased with the possibility of such exotic attractions as Space Mountain and flushing toilets. With insurgents promising an opening day bloodbath, and even normally irrationally-optimistic U.S. officials predicting that princess parts would probably rain down around a ten-block perimeter of the park within minutes of it opening, city leaders are being cautious.
"If we could go one day without all the little animatronics characters in It's a Small World winding up clutching little Iranian flags, it would be a start," Provisional Mayor al Abriam said. "I'm just afraid the day will come when someone will walk up to me and ask, 'Hey Maleek, you just helped catch and kill an evil dictator, fought off an insurgency and managed to keep the occupying army from raping and killing your family - what are you going to do now?'
"I'm afraid they'll ask, and I won't have an answer," al Abriam said. END
SADR CITY, Iraq (CAP) - As U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies wade into a first test of their new "surge" strategy here in this bucolic slum, local officials are already lamenting one casualty that could have profound effects on this fledgling democracy and the region in general.
"Despite all the problems, as late as last week we thought we still might open," said Sadr City Provisional Mayor Maleek al Abriam as he stood outside Saddam's former Palace of the Divine Me. "Now it's on hold indefinitely. There is no timetable."
Saddam's old palace had been renamed Cinderella's Castle, and it's the shining jewel of a sprawling $37 billion theme park that has seen sectarian violence shutter its once promising doors. Disney Iraq, or Mesopotisney as the locals call it, promised to pull large segments of this Baghdad suburb out of a three-decades-long grinding poverty. Instead, it has been a largely iconic reminder of glorious plans gone awry.
"This was supposed to be what everyone pointed to when they discussed the success of democracy in Iraq, sort of a staple of Western culture that took root and brought hope to a nation," said veteran character coach Bobby Eliot. Mr. Eliot was flown over early on in the project to help Iraqis develop the complex character matrix that makes up a Disney park.
"It's failed pretty miserably so far," Eliot said. "We're losing an average of two dwarfs a week. I think we've gone through seven Dopeys alone. IED's during the Main Street Iraq parades have killed scores, and sectarian clashes between the Sunni character-actors and Shiite vendors have been growing. We had to send a shish kabob-skewered Daisy Duck to the hospital just this morning."
The park's delayed opening is a blow to the local residents of Sadr City, who for months have been teased with the possibility of such exotic attractions as Space Mountain and flushing toilets. With insurgents promising an opening day bloodbath, and even normally irrationally-optimistic U.S. officials predicting that princess parts would probably rain down around a ten-block perimeter of the park within minutes of it opening, city leaders are being cautious.
"If we could go one day without all the little animatronics characters in It's a Small World winding up clutching little Iranian flags, it would be a start," Provisional Mayor al Abriam said. "I'm just afraid the day will come when someone will walk up to me and ask, 'Hey Maleek, you just helped catch and kill an evil dictator, fought off an insurgency and managed to keep the occupying army from raping and killing your family - what are you going to do now?'
"I'm afraid they'll ask, and I won't have an answer," al Abriam said. END
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