Follow the Money

Iraq's holy city of Najaf witnessing a boom

So I wonder in 2011 as the "Imperialist" American Armed Forces (ahem, liberators of the free world) leave Iraq just how many of you expats will follow your paycheck to Iraq?

By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers 45 minutes ago

NAJAF, Iraq - The city's first airport is weeks away from opening, but already a bigger one is talked about. Land prices are soaring. Merchants say they don't remember business ever being so good.

Four years ago, Najaf was an urban battlefield with American troops fighting Shiite militiamen loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Today, the Shiite holy city is a hot spot of a different kind thanks to improved security, a free-for-all market economy — and a direct pipeline to the Shiite-led government.

The boomtown buzz in Najaf is more remarkable for its limited company. It's matched only in the northern cities of Sulaimaniyah and Irbil in the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq, which has been mostly a bystander in the war. . .

. . .Ahmed Redha, head of the state Investment Authority in Baghdad, estimated that US$38.8 billion in projects are on the drawing board for Najaf and many will be undertaken by private companies. The core of the plans call for new luxury hotels and more than 200,000 housing units, he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080827/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_booming_najaf_1