Redeveloping Baghdad: a skatepark isn't the only odd project on the horizon

"Hey! I hear they're building us a skatepark!"

In this week's Westword cover story, Jared Jacang Maher reports on California businessman Llewellyn Werner, who's decided that the next logical locale for a skaterboarders' paradise is... Baghdad! It's a bizarre tale of entrepreneurship.

But skaters -- and, yes, they do skate in the Middle East -- aren't the only ones excited about potential development in Baghdad. So are gamblers! In his reporting, Jared came across the video below -- apparently from some sort of English-language public-access show, in which an especially Borat-like host awkwardly interviews an American businessmen who wants to build a casino in the Green Zone.

Maybe we did ignite the flames of Democracy over there after all!