Too many developers seem to be just floating along with the Web Services current, sort of figuring that "everybody's doing it" in a mutually reinforcing march toward the cliffs. No one, even its supporters seems to be able to explain what value SOAP really adds - except, of course, that "everybody's doing it."
Web Services does share one tiny feature with the Web - it cuts across platforms, languages, and pretty much every other aspect of computing. Unlike the Web, its ambitions are enormous, its ownership is uncertain and unfriendly, and its architecture is a mash. HTTP was hackery, but had time to adjust before it reached a wide audience. Web Services is hackery, but its proponents insist on staying the Web Services course as previously charted.
To repeat a point I made replying to braden, "I don't see anyone building Web sites, for instance, that use a single URI and expect users to send POST requests to get back different pages." That's exactly what SOAP is all about.
I'm not sure I like the REST platform that much myself - BEEP or something similar seems like a better approach to dealing with these kinds of development issues. Despite that, I have to thank the REST folks for helping me express my persistent unease with Web Services more effectively. (And Keith Moore as well, whose RFC 3205 was a great start from a very different perspective.)