"Maybe," I nodded. His was a "what if" based on hope, not despair.

While on duty in Iraq, I visited Babylon twice -- Babil, the locals call it. I didn't go as a tourist on a whim, I was under orders, as a colonel from a higher headquarters visiting the headquarters of Poland's contingent. The Poles had an archeologist attached to their staff and -- when the briefings and planning sessions ended -- the Polish commander insisted we walk through the spectacular ruins with the archeologist as a guide.

On a stump of a hill overlooking ruins sits a palace playpen Saddam built for himself and his homicidal sons -- a work of cruel marble kitsch. I remember telling a soldier walking with me that that the place was a hideous eyesore, but Saddam, who claimed he was a new Nebuchadnezzar, couldn't leave Babylon alone. "Building it damaged the ruins. No way it didn't," I said.

"It's sure there," the soldier replied -- one of the most succinct architectural damnations I've ever heard.

"Yeah, so we deal with it, huh?" I said. Then, thinking of my Iraqi friend's entrepreneurial aspiration and knowing war zones aren't for tourists, I added, "When someone turns that palace into a luxury hotel, you'll know we're well on our way to victory."

That was 2004. It's 2009. In the last six months, as the Iraqi government solidifies its victory over al-Qaida's murderers, Saddam's thugs and Iranian-backed gangs, there are tantalizing signs Iraq's tourist industry has begun to revive. Earlier this month, Iraq re-opened its National Museum, which was damaged and looted when Baghdad fell in April 2003. Greece recently offered financial assistance and technical aid to help Iraqis restore and develop damaged archaeological sites and revamp museums. In late 2007 -- when the Iraqis knew they were winning -- the Iraqi minister of tourism said Iraq needed to increase its available hotel space by "three or four times" in order to be able to handle the rise in tourism he anticipated.

Ten years was my Iraqi friend's guess -- 2014. But based on market signals, it's time he contacted a commercial real estate agent in Babil.