A timid revival in Baghdad

People bowling at an alley at the ‘One thousand And One Nights’ entertainment resort on the bank of the Tigris River in Baghdad. — AFP

ON a summer evening, Iraqis smoke shisha and go bowling at a sprawling riverside complex in Baghdad, one of the many new investments reviving the capital after decades of turmoil.

“Iraq is fertile ground for investments,” said Falah Hassan, the executive director of the complex of restaurants and shops built on the grounds of one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces and named after the famed “One Thousand and One Nights” folktales.