And the signal is: We think it’ll be safe enough for us now to start making money down there again.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Saturday, calling for more economic engagement in that country (he means of the German kind), which really isn’t much of a surpise, if you ask me.

In particular, a bilateral deal on the protection of investments is expected to be signed with Industry Minister Fawzi Hariri, with the new accord helping improve “economic and legal conditions for German companies” working in Iraq.