I am just beginning to learn SOAP and diddle with Web Services (no
formal project yet), but you bring up some good points.

If I understand the whole XML/Web Services thing, it's to be able to
maintain your legacy software while "wrappering" or providing an
interface to the web that will use XML as a protocol for information
transfer.

One SHOULD be able to wrapper your ICE protocols in SOAP RPC-like
calls. I haven't done this, but it should be possible and I think
(though, like you, I have been wrong... often) it should be worth the
effort of not having to re-write all the legacy software which relied
on ICE.

But of course, I'm just beginning in this, so I may be way off base.