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What Baghdad Needs Is a Ferris Wheel
August 26, 2008 1:56 PM
By HILARY BROWN, ABC News Baghdad
‘Forget about electricity and running water, what Baghdad needs is a ferris wheel. And its gotta be the biggest in the world.’
That, in essence, is the latest Big Idea to come from the men of Baghdad City Council.
They have invited tenders, from inside Iraq and abroad, for a giant ferris wheel (at least 600 feet high) to be set in its own complex of restaurants, casinos, and playgrounds, right in the heart of Baghdad.
‘Any person who goes into it will be able to see the whole of Baghdad,’ says the Baghdad Municipality press release, adding that the ferris wheel will be much higher than the London Eye (which is a mere 410 feet off the ground), and will be able to take 40 people in each pod.
In the five and a half years since the U.S.-led invasion, Iraq has produced feelings of shock and awe, pity and terror, outrage and horror, but never has a news item evoked pure and simple ridicule.
That Baghdad’s town councillors think a giant ferris wheel should be a priority for their bombed-out city is beyond belief. There must be a hundred better ways to spend public money.
Take the public services, which in Baghdad is a contradiction in terms.
Most people in the city are still limited to less than an hour of electricity a day, which comes on without warning, usually in the middle of the night. People then leap out of bed, put on the washing machine, the iron, the cooker, the fridge, the fan and all the other modern conveniences that make life bearable.
The rest of the time, they boil to bits (it’s currently 115 degrees here). If they can afford it, they buy a generator, or club together with their neighbours to buy one for the street or the apartment building.
The water supply is even worse.
In many neighbourhoods there is no tap water at all. People actually dig down into the city’s underground water pipes and pump out what they can.
Surely the restoration of public utilities is what the Baghdadis really need, not a ferris wheel that would only give them a depressing, bird’s eye view of a field of dun-coloured ruins, blast walls and pot-holed, filthy streets.
Make no mistake, they’ve got the money. Thanks to the increase in oil prices, Iraq has the money.
According to the General Accounting Office, Iraq has accumulated 156 billion dollars in oil revenues from 2005 to the present. Yet last year, it spent only 28 percent of its own reconstruction budget, preferring, perhaps, to let the U.S. taxpayer continue to pay for rebuilding (approximately 48 billion dollars has been spent since the invasion).
It’s true that reconstruction is difficult when there’s a shortage of qualified engineers and technicians (many have fled the country) and when conditions are often just too dangerous for those who have remained.
But the overall level of violence has gone down dramatically here, thanks to the so-called ‘Surge' of U.S. troops in 2006, the ceasefire called by the Shiite leader Moqtada al Sadr, and the estimated 90,000 former Sunni insurgents who are now being paid by the Americans to patrol their own areas and report on al Qaeda activity.
And that brings another terrible thought to mind. The Baghdad Ferris Wheel could be an irresistible target for terrorists.
August 26, 2008 in Hilary Brown | Permalink | User Comments (22)
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My city has a ferris wheel. We don't blow each other up and our electricity rarely goes out. Maybe Tiannamen Square should have one.
Posted by: socialists for Obama | Aug 26, 2008 2:53:28 PM
I can't believe our people are risking their lives everyday for idiots like this!!!
Posted by: WParsons | Aug 26, 2008 2:59:25 PM
O yea, that's what they need - an even bigger target for the bomb, rocket launchers and suicide fools!
No wonder the country is in trouble with fools thinking up this crap
Posted by: Anne Walsh | Aug 26, 2008 3:01:19 PM
UN F**KING REAL.
Posted by: cranman1 | Aug 26, 2008 3:06:51 PM
Thats what our soldiers are risking their lives for?? A ferris wheel?
Give me a break!
oh, by the way....McCain '08
Posted by: Brian | Aug 26, 2008 3:10:48 PM
Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way. Maybe we should focus on the jobs that building a ferris wheel and resturants, shops, etc. would bring to the city.
Posted by: my2centsworth | Aug 26, 2008 3:10:59 PM
Why NOT have a ferris wheel in Baghdad? Maybe if these people learned what laughter and fun and happiness is, they wouldn't be blowing people up!
Posted by: Kelly | Aug 26, 2008 3:11:44 PM
Yes give them a Ferris wheel, and dancing monkeys also, a flying carpet ride with Micheal Jackson dancing in the background.
Posted by: Alec | Aug 26, 2008 3:24:20 PM
What's wrong with them having a ferris wheel? Maybe if they had a chance to go to an amusement park, laugh, and have a great time, they wouldn't feel the need to blow anything up!
Posted by: Kelly | Aug 26, 2008 3:25:22 PM
This shows real political progress has been made. They are acting just like our politicians. Next thing they will want to build a road to nowhere.
Posted by: bob r | Aug 26, 2008 3:27:44 PM
Maybe the ferris wheel will give them a better view of the city so they can blow more things up. I think they should have a Merry Go Round instead. Maybe even a freak show where they display a person of a certain religion that isn't hell bent on blowing up other people.
Posted by: Hi Dad | Aug 26, 2008 3:33:34 PM
I'm sure Dumbya will think this is a great idea and insist that they let the US pay for it.
Posted by: jack | Aug 26, 2008 3:37:03 PM
I didn't fight for that.
Posted by: andy | Aug 26, 2008 5:13:54 PM
this area has the best dope in the world. and the people with this idea are smoking it. keep wasting our money and soldiers lives on this nonsense... maybe they'll need clowns, too. D.C. has a bunch to spare...
Posted by: gspears3 | Aug 26, 2008 5:56:37 PM
I think a ferris wheel in Bagdad is a great idea. Just think of the pot shots a person could take being on top of that ferris wheel. Then if all fails they could load all the seats on the ferris wheel up with people and then blow the dang thing up.
Now that would be a great body count.
Sorry folks but im a very sick person. TEEHEE,TEEHEE
Posted by: bubbabear200 | Aug 26, 2008 7:50:05 PM
Holy Crap! Is this what we sacrificed thousands of Americans and put our economy in the dumps for? I can't wait for this nightmare to end? Enough is enough! If those idiots in Baghdad go through with this we ought to immediately and let them continue to live in their own fairy land.
Posted by: irish in va | Aug 27, 2008 3:30:28 PM
The only thing that I picture when reading this report is a a group of Iraqis burning the hell out of an "organic" opium field while reliving the eternal Kevin Costner moment of "if we build it they will come."
Posted by: Jennifer Sargent | Aug 27, 2008 10:49:21 PM
I recently returned from a year-long deployment to Baghdad. All of those who say our soldiers are being wasted for stuff like this don't get it -- this is EXACTLY what we are fighting for... a society which is STABLE ENOUGH to do things like build ferris wheels -- and more importantly...that the typical Iraqi soldier will find something in Iraq (besides his own relatives) worth fighting for.
Posted by: Aaron Kulkis | Sep 26, 2008 7:16:02 PM
Well.it's bad, but id rather have it go here than Bill Ayers bank account, Larazza and ACORNS acounts. Wouldn't you?
IdiotsForObama . Com
Posted by: johnny | Sep 27, 2008 4:03:56 PM
Today a ferris wheel; and if you vote in McCain who said we will stay in Iraq for the next 100 yrs, by then the American Taxpayers will have thrown over there enough money to turn the whole country into a giant middle east disney type place. Perhaps if they gave us a discount on their oil we could give them even more money now.....
This is the time and the place for Obama, whom I predict will be the most favored President since John F. Kennedy.
Posted by: Josh | Oct 9, 2008 11:35:30 PM
Yes, there are many ways to look at this idea. One is foolish and reckless, another is that it would meant the town council would have to start repairing electricity and water because you can't air condition a car without electricity. Yes, it would be a wonderful target but it would also be a place for laughter and smiles. The people would have to up their security measures if they want it to even be built let alone used. A journey has to start with a step, perhaps this is a better step than just spending endless hours hunting down people and killing them.
Posted by: Becky | Oct 11, 2008 8:26:41 AM
give them Sarah Palin so they can see Russia from the ferris wheel!
Posted by: philosopherkingtomas | Nov 17, 2008 5:55:12 PM
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