Report: Big cuts needed at huge Baghdad embassy built by Bush

[Qutzupalotl]

Source: McClatchy

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Embassy in Iraq, the government's largest overseas diplomatic mission, is significantly overstaffed and needs to be downsized to reflect the reduced American role in the country, according to a new State Department report.

"There is a clear consensus from the top to the bottom of the embassy: The time has come for a significant rightsizing," says the report Wednesday by the department's inspector general.

....

The American Embassy in Baghdad became a symbol of the Bush administration's ambitions to remake Iraq. A huge new structure was built on the banks of the Tigris River, at a cost of more than $700 million, and hundreds of civilian experts from agencies across the U.S. government were deployed to help with reconstruction.

....

The embassy employs 1,873 people, including locally hired staff, and more than 13,000 contractors, the report says.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/72267.html

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No kidding!!

[Botany]

1. thanx W

[louis-t]

2. I'm sure bushie saw that as a tribute to himself.

After he "saved" the country by destroying most of it. I'm sure he foresaw Saddam's statues replaced with his own.

[LynnTheDem]

3. "I Would Be Surprised If A Year From There Isn't A Statue To George W. Bush in Baghdad Square"

-Richard "geez I'm a stupid piece of shit" Perl

That was several years ago, dickie. Surprised yet?



Republicans; truly the stupidest MFers. EVER.

[joeybee12]

4. $700 M could have done a lot of good over here...

...but no, we had to start a pointless, unjustified, unwinnable war.

[Wizard777]

5. Leave it to the Republicans to create a white elephant.

[Brother Buzz]

6. Hey, I think we just found the ideal site for the GWB library

Surely, we can shoehorn GWB library into the extra space. :rofl:

[tomm2thumbs]

7. love it - and can't wait for the shoe-throwing exhibit

batter up!

[BumRushDaShow]

13. !!!

:spray:

[xocet]

8. Library, anyone...

With the freed-up space from the "right-sizing", this location would be an excellent venue for the G.W. Bush Presidential Library and Memorial Blunder Room.

(Now, after reading the thread, I see someone beat me to the library idea. Darn!)

[Zorra]

9. Another $700 million wasted. "Conservatives" stood by as Bu*h frivolously spent the country

into disaster and not a peep was heard out of them.

They're all unbelievable hypocrites.

[gratuitous]

10. Someone named Bush overbought and we get stuck with the bill?

Hardly LBN. Just the same old record spun by a tired, unimaginative DJ. And we won't, of course, be talking about this as a place where we could have/should have saved a little money. At least not if the Republicans have their way, and for some reason when it comes to setting the terms of public discourse, they do.

[bvar22]

11. The money in Iraq has already been spent.

The Palace in Baghdad is soooo last administration.

AfPak is the NEW front for The Endless War,
and Obama is going to build and even BIGGER and More Expensive Dark Palace in Islamabad!
Take THAT George Bush!

"The U.S. is embarking on a $1 billion crash program to expand its diplomatic presence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, another sign that the Obama administration is making a costly, long-term commitment to war-torn South Asia, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

The White House has asked Congress for — and seems likely to receive — $736 million to build a new U.S. embassy in Islamabad, along with permanent housing for U.S. government civilians and new office space in the Pakistani capital.

The scale of the projects rivals the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which was completed last year after construction delays at a cost of $740 million.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/68952.html

The more things "change"....

[pjt7]

12. A contractor told me it has some sort of gigantic

glass sculpture overhead,just wating to be shattered, when a bomb hits it.

Bush & Cheney built plenty of massive embassys all over the world. Big part of the expansion of the Empire & the "positives" of 9l1.

[xxqqqzme]

14. Every so often, for many many years, we are

going to be reminded of how these asswipes totally fucked over everything they put in their paths.

[friendly_iconoclast]

15. The viceregal palac- err, embassy is overstaffed?

Color me not surprised a bit.