Another article from the department of bizarre Iraq news:
Pssst... want to buy Iraq?
Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service\Boston Bureau
January 31, 2003, 12:00
idg.net
BOSTON (01/31/2003) - U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair may be able to cancel their scheduled meeting to hash out a plan of action against Iraq Friday if the nation is purchased by a friendly bidder.
Iraq, the oil-rich mideast nation controlled by an iron-fisted ruler thought to have an arsenal of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, is up for auction on eBay Inc. (<http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2909539751>).
Although the starting bid was set at just $0.99, as of noon Friday, the bids had reached over $99 million. Perhaps it's no surprise the bidding had reached such a frenzy when considering the nation's assets. After all, according to the seller, Iraq comes with historical sites, hundreds of presidential palaces, camels, and "oil, oil, oil!"
It's "conveniently located on the Uzbekistan-Syrian super freeway," the ad said, and comes with "millions of relieved citizens."
The Iraq auction, apparently designed to provide levity as the U.S. and its allies consider declaring war on the nation, is just the latest in a tradition of tomfoolery on the auction site.
Earlier this week, eyebrows were raised when former staff of ZDNet Tech Update was put up for auction for employment opportunities. That posting was taken down, however, after the seller received a cease and desist notice from the tech news Web site's owner, Cnet Networks Inc.
It remains to be seen whether Iraqi President Saddam Hussein takes similar actions over the auctioning off of his nation. So far, however, the Iraq seller has only positive ratings from eBay users.
EBay representatives were not available to comment on the auctions Friday. |
