It's not quite so crazy at it sounds. Well, OK, it does sound off-your-rocker crazy, at least while mortar shells continue to drop on the Green Zone: A $5 billion commercial development in the heart of the world's most, um, volatile tourist destination. Marriott International is already in and a cool billion of Saudi capital has been pledged. According to the Pentagon, the plan has stoked the interest of "some deep pockets in the world of international hotels and development."

Hmmmm ... deep pockets ... international development. Sounds like a job for -- Sheldon Adelson! He's certainly ploughed a lot of dough (mostly via Freedom's Watch) in keeping us militarily invested there. He's also been trying to cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war against Iran -- which gives him something in common with Sen. Hillary "Total Annihilation" Clinton. (And to think that such mushroom-cloud rhetoric undid the presidential candidacy of the late Sen. Barry Goldwater [R-Ariz.], 42 years ago. Times sure have changed.)

Of course, there's a little problem with the Iraqi government, which isn't entirely down with this scheme, especially because it brings back memories of Hussein-era cronyism. The fact that ultimate veto power over who can and can't buy in resides with the U.S. military isn't likely to play well, either. (Our government tends to take a selective attitude toward Iraqi sovereignty, even after five years.)

Maybe Las Vegas Sands could bid on one of pathetic old Saddam Hussein's palaces and call it ... Palazzo. And after that, maybe Venetian Tehran?

Hey, if forced to choose between a weekend in Tijuana and one in Baghdad, I'll take Baghdad anytime. 

Tropped up. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Columbia Sussex missed a Credit Suisse interest payment last Friday, which could push Tropicana Entertainment into Chapter 11. According to the WSJ, if true, this "would be the largest corporate filing of the year, a startling reversal of fortune for the new owner of one of the most historic casinos in Las Vegas."

According to the Las Vegas Sun's Jeff Simpson, who is feeling understandably vindicated, a bankruptcy filing for Tropicana Entertainment would shield Columbia Sussex's hotel properties (and three of its casinos) from creditors. It could also mean the imposition of onerous employment contracts upon the Las Vegas Trop's workforce.

Bad career move. Was this what Scott Butera and Robert Kocienski had in mind when they signed on with Tropicana Entertainment? Or should they have taken the presence of a Titanic exhibit at the LV Trop as an omen? Their jobs now will definitely consist of rearranging the deck chairs on the You Know What.

Update: It's confirmed. Butera obliquely affairs what many believe: That Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III overpaid for Aztar Corp., just before the bottom fell out of the market.

Wall Street analysts put too much stock (pardon the pun) in the value of the LV Trop's Strip acreage, ignoring the fact that it was the Atlantic City Trop whose cash flow kept the lights on. I thought so at the time of the sale and ensuing events have borne that out.

With so many eggs in its Atlantic City basket, Yung could ill afford to screw up there, which he did on a colossal scale. Judging from some of the circle-the-wagons verbiage in the wire story, Butera's high profile -- and the structuring of the Chapter 11 filing -- look partly like a diversionary tactic to shield Yung from blame, even though he is the sole director, president, CEO, secretary, treasurer and lone shareholder of Tropicana Casino Resorts when it hit the fan and only recently ceded the presidency of Tropicana Entertainment to Butera.

Depending on how things play out, Butera is perfectly positioned to be either the savior or the fall guy.

Best line: Butera says, "We will continue to offer our visitors and players a full range of lodging, entertainment and gaming services." Well, that'd be a pleasant break with tradition.