US Has Big Plans for Embassy in Iraq

[kskiska]

In preparation for ending its occupation of Iraq, the United States is making plans to create the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in the world in Baghdad, complete with a staff of over 3,000 personnel, according to U.S. officials.

The transition will mark the hand-over of responsibility for dealing with Iraq from the Pentagon to the State Department, which will then help oversee the two definitive steps in creating Iraq's first freely elected democratic government.

"The real challenge for the new embassy, so to speak, or the new presence will be helping the Iraqi people get ready for their full elections and full constitution the following year," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in an interview this week. "That's going to be a major effort on our part."

One of the first steps will be resuming diplomatic relations between Washington and Baghdad. Although the United States is the occupying power in Iraq, the two nations have not formally resumed relations, which were severed after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48082-2004Jan1.html

[aquart]

1. 3,000 people in an embassy? TO DO WHAT?

Administer the empire?

[IndianaGreen]

4. Sounds like the colonial office to me. See article inside....

Washington Needs a Colonial Office

From the July 2, 2003 Financial Times: Like the old British Colonial Office and India Colonial Office, America needs a way to manage its rebuilding efforts abroad.
by Max Boot

07/09/2003 12:00:00 AM

THE U.S. OCCUPATION of Iraq is still in its early stages. It is ludicrously premature to call it a failure, as some critics already do. Assuming that the United States and Britain keep their nerve in the face of growing guerrilla attacks, there is little doubt that they can still make good on George W. Bush's pledge, delivered in a speech on Tuesday, that "there will be no return to tyranny in Iraq" and that "those who threaten the order and stability of that country will face ruin, just as surely as the regime they once served".

But even if things ultimately work out well--and the odds are that they will--it is not too soon to ask what went wrong. This is not to cast blame but to do better in Iraq--and in the next country that needs to be rebuilt. Liberia, perhaps.

There is no question that the U.S. government was ill-prepared for the aftermath of a war well fought. Many facilities, such as electrical transformers and oil pumping stations that had been meticulously spared by the air campaign, were destroyed by looters and saboteurs. Many members of the old regime escaped and have come back to haunt the occupying authorities. Both problems have set the reconstruction process back.

The administration implicitly conceded that something was amiss early on when it sacked Jay Garner, a mild-mannered former general, and replaced him as viceroy with the tough-talking Paul Bremer. Garner complained that his outfit--the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance--had been hastily assembled
and given neither the time nor the resources to prepare for running a country of 24 million people. Garner had only two months to plan and no more than 200 staffers to work with.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/867lqbsv.asp?pg=1

[JNelson6563]

20. Ah the colonies!

Let us hope many of the "nobles" re-locate to the newest colony soon. ;-)

Julie

[arcos]

11. Exactly... it will be the US headquarters in the middle east.... n/t

[mobuto]

18. The Viceregal Palace

Its not an embassy its our viceregal palace. Oh well.

[Demonaut]

21. They're needed for embassoring...very important

3000 is a good start but more will be needed.....

[Dagaz]

2. So who will build this supermission?

I'm sure it will be an Iraqi company with no ties to the GOP.

[DCDemo]

7. It's already there..

The Green Zone..or rather, most of it - Saddam's old Palace.....nice image, right??

This just keeps getting worse and worse.

[impeach the gop]

3. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

just where is all this money coming from to pay for this nonsense? We're already broke, no new jobs in sight
kids here got fucked out of their education. You ever wonder what kind of drugs these thugs are on.

[NJCher]

5. can this government get any more absurd?

The transition will mark the hand-over of responsibility for dealing with Iraq from the Pentagon to the State Department, which will then help oversee the two definitive steps in creating Iraq's first freely elected democratic government.


Oh yeah, right. Like they'll even be able to get 3000 people to go there. I think we can say with a good deal of certainty that the first 300 will be blown to bits in the first week.

Yeah, what drugs are these people on, anyway?



Cher

[mobuto]

19. 3000 people?

We have over 150,000 people there. 3000 more or less won't make much of a difference.

[daleo]

6. Including an ultra-large helicopter pad on the roof

Just in case there is the need for a Saigon like evacuation some day.

[number6]

8. One big target.

:nuke:

[Minstrel Boy]

9. A seat worthy of the Baron Harkonnen himself!

The spice must flow.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Excellent analogy!

The spice must flow!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

13. OMFG, You are Sooo spot on!

[kalian]

15. Spice=oil, eh?

;)

[Minstrel Boy]

16. Iraq ... Arrakis

That Frank Herbert was on to something! :)

Funny how easy it is to cheer for the religious, sand-dwelling, resource-rich foreigners when it's a fiction, eh?

[pfitz59]

23. Hooo hoo!

Dead on!

[Pale_Rider]

12. Ya need allot of people to handle ...

... all of the Halliburton contracts. Damn it, there's oil to pump!

[snippy]

14. 3,000 CIA agents and a handful of diplomats.

Preparations for the Next Bush War.

[Moderator]

17. Kick

:dem:

[Just Me]

22. Their actions steadily bleed all credibility,...

,...concerning the alleged purposes asserted by the neo-cons for our being there. A THREE THOUSAND strong of colonizers is a pretty feakin' obvious action flying in the face of Iraqi for Iraqis. They just cannot seem to control such brazen moves, huh. I predict catastrophe.