Tourist (death) trap

For bored travelers who have seen it all, the next challenge is clear: Iraq.

Yes, Iraq, the place where religious fanatics of different kinds are trying to kill Iraqis and soldiers of different kinds.

Despite that little problem, Iraqi tourism officials are thinking positive.

They have rolled out new tourism posters and want to attract visitors to Iraq’s archaeological sites.

That’s encouraging. On the downside, many of those sites have been looted and damaged in the fighting.

And the national museum in Baghdad, filled with thousands of priceless artifacts, remains closed because of the strong likelihood that a suicide bomber would be among its first customers.

Still, one American entrepreneur, Robert Kelley, said Baghdad’s famed “Green Zone” would be a dandy site for $100 million luxury hotel. It probably would be, as soon as they can do something about those annoying mortar shells that “drop in” unexpectedly.

This week, officials from Iraq’s National Investment Commission joined Kelley in a “cornerstone-laying” ceremony at the proposed site.

The AP reported, “Some Iraqi observers joked that the structure looked like a gravestone.”

Yikes. I bet no one was laughing.