Hot ‘new’ destination in Iraq

The Great Ziggurat temple in Iraq’s ancient city of Ur has been getting a lot more foreign visitors. — AFP

An American tourist poses for a holiday snap in Iraq, in front of the blue-brick Ishtar Gate that was rebuilt at the ancient site of Babylon under dictator Saddam Hussein.

Most foreigners here since Saddam’s ouster in a 2003 invasion led by the United States have worn army fatigues and carried guns – but more recently there has been a trickle of camera-toting travel pioneers.