Tourism campaign makes poor choice of singer

There's no shortage of poorly-chosen music-related advertising and marketing campaigns, but the people attempting to turn Ebril into a tourist hotspot have managed to bounce themselves to the top of the list. This constitutes some sort of clanger being dropped:

One of the most recent triumphs for authorities in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, had was getting their metropolis named Capital of Arab Tourism for 2014. A schedule of events to draw more attention to the city and to attract visitors has been launched, as has a promotional campaign. But the latter has already run into some controversy.

Local officials have brought in Moroccan-born singer, Samira Said, to perform a song called “Erbil”, in which the musical star, who’s well known throughout the Arab world, praises the locale for its beauty.

Apparently Said was chosen, in part, because she is one of the nominees in the Monte Carlo-based World Music Awards, where best selling artists in each region and in various categories are given prizes. Said has been nominated for her single, “Mazal” and she’s also up for the Best Female Artist prize.

Now, so far, that doesn't sound so bad - Samira Said, with something of a global profile - coming over to sing a song about the joys of Iraqi Kurdistan.

What could possibly be wrong about that?

The same singer, Samira Said, was employed by Saddam Hussein to sing hymns to his regime, the same regime that tried to exterminate Iraq’s Kurds.

Yeah. That's taking "ill-judged" to a new level.