SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq – We finished dinner early, so we decided to – why not? – go bowling.

Yes, this is still Iraq. There's cholera. The police are arresting militants intent on becoming suicide bombers. When the power fails, the dust and heat are oppressive. Getting a tank of gas is a throw of the dice on whether it will run or ruin your engine. Insurance and banking are in their infancy, and the legal climate can change like a chameleon.

But the Kurdish region of Iraq has hung out an "Open for Business" sign. Government officials and ordinary businessmen talk of building an economy in this region of 5 million Kurds that doesn't have to depend on Turkey and Iran for nearly all its consumables.

Foreign businessmen – most of them Turkish – have so far announced $5 billion in investments, said Board of Investment chairman Herish Muharam Muhamad. Kurds coming home with money from abroad are building apartments, shopping malls and ritzy homes.

Generators keep the Chilchira (Forty Lambs) bowling alley and entertainment center air-conditioned. The red neon is lit until 2 a.m., and you can get anything from ice cream to scotch on the rocks at the food courts and bars.

The Chilchira Co., owned by a Kurd management group, opened this place in May, after one of the owners went bowling in Europe and thought the sport would catch on in Kurdistan.

"You can send the kids up to Gameland on the top floor and have some fun," said manager Baha Adin. "It's a slow time now because of Ramadan [the Muslim month of fasting], but this place gets so crowded, my friends call to see if I will reserve a lane for them."

Investment board chairman Herish Muhamad said he is asked all the time, "Where are the Americans?"

Dallas-based Hunt Oil Co. has just begun looking for oil. Virginia-based Sigma International Construction is building 350 homes outside Irbil in a development called American Village, with plans to market them to Iraqis in this very pro-American region. The top model sells for $580,000.

For Americans, though, that's about it. Mr. Muhamad has gone looking for them with offers of full ownership and private property rights. Interested companies can build, own and operate power plants.

But Turkish investors are swimming laps around the Americans because their insurance costs are much lower, he said. U.S. firms apparently face exceptional premiums because this is Iraq, and there's a war on.

Kurdistan, Mr. Muhamad argued, is far more peaceful than the rest of Iraq.

"Americans played a very important part in liberating Iraq, and we are proud to say not one drop of American blood has been shed in Kurdistan," he said. "We would like to see the Americans take the lead in helping us build our economy as well."

Sigma is getting help from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp., which provides federal political risk insurance.

The few U.S. diplomats in the Kurdish region of Iraq are required to travel in armored convoys and so don't get out of their compound much. Most Americans here don't venture out after dark and try to keep clear of traffic jams.

Bowling alley manager Baha Adin said a contingent of Americans training Iraqi security forces came once to bowl and sing. Otherwise, straying journalists who can't get over bowling in Iraq are about the only American patrons.

It's a question of risk and perceptions.

Mayada Suliman, a 31-year-old Arab from Baghdad, left the capital with her family and some friends after they could no longer tolerate the daily dread and violence.

"We're so happy here. There's no bowling in Baghdad," she said after rolling a ball and scattering a few pins. "We've left Baghdad for Sulaimaniyah for good."

Whether American military forces might do the same one day is an interesting political question. In economic terms, however, the Kurds want companies to feel they can invest safely here – and, if workers want, go bowling.