By Lennox Samuels

Two men, one American, the other Iraqi, daubed wet cement on a short stack of limestone bricks and laid the cornerstone for what is to be the first new five-star hotel in Baghdad since the days of Saddam Hussein. A couple dozen people standing in 115-degree heat on a parched piece of land near Zaitun Street and Al Qadisiya Highway, just inside the International Zone, watched the tableau. Most of them understood that the ceremony was a symbol of Iraq's accelerating efforts to transition to life beyond wartime. And the developer's representative spelled it out for those who might not have gotten the message. "This project will be a signal that will go out all over the world that the economy of Iraq is ready for investment," declared Robert K. Kelly, CEO of Delaware-based Summit Global Group.

It will take more than such baby steps to rebuild Iraq, but the cornerstone event is part of a growing trend toward normality in Iraq as violence subsides. Parts of the country remain dangerous and terrorists still occasionally launch attacks that result in mayhem and high body counts, but there is a sense that real change is in the air. "Today we can stand here fairly safely and lay the cornerstone for the future of Iraq," said Brig. Gen. David Perkins, a newly arrived Multinational Force-Iraq spokesman. "This project encapsulates progress across all the aspects of improving security, creating good government and reviving the economy."

Construction on the $100 million, 300-room hotel is to begin in 30 to 45 days. The project is expected to create 500 jobs and be completed within 12 months, Kelly says. The development, dubbed Hotel Two Rivers (Iraq is home to the famous Tigris and Euphrates rivers), will rise in the shadow of monuments to the megalomania of Hussein. Nearby stand the hulking Adnan Palace and the giant Crossed Swords that commemorate the ill-fated Iraq-Iran War.