[Billthedrill]

I’d go in a heartbeat. The problem with serious excavation in these places is where do you stop? Layers upon layers, each of which is historically significant, and Babylon is by no means the eldest of the ancient cities in Mesopotamia. If they’d stop killing one another over there it could be an archaeological smorgasbord.

[Big_Monkey]

"If they’d stop killing one another over there it could be an archaeological smorgasbord."

I have thought about this a lot myself. I'm not sure what percentage of Egypts GDP comes from tourism, but I'd wager it's very, very significant.

These people were writing, counting, multiplying and such when the rest of the world was still in loin cloths. At one time, Iraq was the Europe of the world. What a shame.

[uptoolate]

If it becomes a “goldmine” of wealth from tourism, then maybe the Twelve Tribes could go after Babylon for reparations for the Captivity?

Cross Ref: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2188763/posts

[G8 Diplomat]

If they’d stop killing one another over there it could be an archaeological smorgasbord.

So true. There are so many great pre-Islamic archaeological sites. Turkey is full of them, Iran's got the tomb of Cyrus the Great among other sites, Iraq has the remains of Uruk, the first city built by mankind, Jordan has Petra and Roman remains such as Jarash, Syria's got some as well (Damascus and Aleppo are some of the oldest continually-inhabited cities in the world), the emirate of Fujayrah in the UAE is supposed to have many pre-Islamic artifacts buried beneath it, the island of Sir Bani Yas of the coast of Abu Dhabi has Nestorian Christian monestaries (Bahrain may have some also, because before Islam Nestorians lived there), in Yemen you can find tablets and walls inscribed with old the North Arabian language, and of course there is Bethlehem and the other Biblical cities. To name a few examples....