A Los Angeles-based firm "is pouring millions of dollars into developing the Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum."  

The 50-acre park will sit next to the Green Zone & encompass Baghdad's existing zoo, "which was looted, left without power & abandoned" after the 2003 invasion. 

Llewellyn Werner, chairman of C3, the company developing the project, said the park is "going to have a huge psychological impact" & claimed Iraqis would "see it as an opportunity for their children regardless if they're Shi'a or Sunni."

Werner, who will dole out $500 million for the project, admitted the practical considerations as well.  

"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't making money," he said.  

"I also have this wonderful sense that we're doing the right thing - we're going to employ thousands of Iraqis.  

But mostly everything here is for profit."