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World's Biggest U.S. Embassy May Not Be Quite Big Enough

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maddezmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 02:29 AM
Original message
World's Biggest U.S. Embassy May Not Be Quite Big Enough
World's Biggest U.S. Embassy May Not Be Quite Big Enough

By Al Kamen
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A13



For all those who keep whining about how the government can't do anything right, we're happy to report that the massive New Embassy Compound in Baghdad, the biggest U.S. embassy on earth, is going to be completed pretty much as scheduled in August.

The bad news is that it appears it's not going to have enough housing for all the employees who'll be moving to the 27-building complex on a 104-acre tract of land -- about the size of the Vatican, two-thirds the size of the Mall -- within the Green Zone.

In fact, our new man in Baghdad, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, is said to be concerned that, while there are more than 600 blast-resistant apartments in the NEC, there's a need for several hundred more apartments.

Problem seems to be that the original plans didn't account for hundreds of staff working in reconstruction, development, the inspector general's office and other security programs, who, though considered temporary, will need, at least for a few years, somewhere to live. There are 1,000 Americans working at the embassy, and Crocker is looking to downsize, but we hear he's having trouble finding even 100 to toss overboard.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502027.html
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care a boo Donating Member (3 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 02:36 AM
Response to Original message
1. Jeez!
That thing is HUGE!
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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 02:37 AM
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2. If it had a moot----we would be back to the forts of Kingdomes??
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maddezmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 02:43 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. maybe Crocker and his deputy could give up some of their 25,000 sq ft of living space
Crocker's home in the NEC -- which one source said was about 16,000 square feet -- is expected to be ready. Ditto deputy chief of mission Daniel Speckhard's cottage, which is a cozy 9,500 square feet. In addition to office buildings, the complex, located on the banks of the Tigris River, will have a pool and gym and a 17,000-square-foot commissary and food court building.

:eyes:

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rodeodance Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 02:46 AM
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4. there's no provision for rooms for congressional delegations .......
Also, there are about 200 non-U.S. workers brought in from around the region who are replacing Iraqi staff because it is too dangerous for the Iraqis, who live outside the fortified Green Zone, to work for Americans.

Worst of all, there's no provision for rooms for congressional delegations or other distinguished guests coming to shop in the famed markets. There aren't any safe hotels in Baghdad, much less a decent B&B.

Embassy employees, now living in trailers with no overhead protection, are getting increasingly jittery over mortar and rocket attacks. New guidelines tell them to wear helmets and flak jackets when walking in the open. But some employees, sleeping in those tin-can trailers, apparently would actually like to take off the helmets and jackets while they're in bed.

One speaker at a recent town hall meeting in Baghdad, McClatchy Newspapers reported yesterday, asked for bullet-resistant Kevlar blankets to protect him from shrapnel in case of incoming mortar fire.
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Boo Boo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 03:36 AM
Response to Original message
5. The President of the United States is insane. /nt
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Cobalt-60 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 04:09 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. Agreed. That's not an Embassy
It's a Castle.
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C_U_L8R Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 04:37 AM
Response to Original message
7. I hope they're building rooms for Bush and Cheney
that's where they deserve to be exiled to.... their own mess
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WePurrsevere Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 05:27 AM
Response to Original message
8. Oh my... I've seen articles on this before but it still bugs the heck out of me.
There are so many more important things our money should be going for.

K&R!
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Demeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 07:22 AM
Response to Original message
9. Now We Know Why September Is the Drop Dead Date
They're going to go into seige mode--hope that Bush and Cheney decide to hole up there, instead of Paraguay!
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ComandanteChe Donating Member (88 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 09:58 AM
Response to Original message
10. Can you say permanent American colony?

Let's stop pretending. We are staying in Iraq for many years to come. Regardless of which party controls, we are not leaving and this new embassy, fortress should be clear proof. Along with all permanent bases.

Must read essay on this topic and why we are going to stay is called "Operation Iraq Forever". It is worth your time to read it.
An excerpt:


As such, to purposefully give up such a prize as the oil fields of Iraq, along with its perfect strategic location, would be tantamount to giving up on a burgeoning empire, something the elite and the corporatists of the nation are not yet ready to do. Controlling the oil markets of the world, along with the spigots, pipelines and oil fields of Iraq, dictating supply and demand to the globe, possessing the power to control the amount of oil a rival or rising superpower is allowed to have, and establishing a beachhead for further attempts at acquiring yet more oil and gas, this time in Iran and Central Asia, is too tempting a proposition for America’s elite to extricate their armies from Mesopotamia. In truth, to leave Iraq would be to leave behind all delusions of a New American Century. It would be akin to declaring defeat to Russia and China, in essence granting these rising powers Iraq’s oil fields on a silver platter and cementing the precipitous fall of the American Empire itself.

Iraq is too valuable, in the minds of America’s elite and her corporatists, to simply walk away from. For all intents and purposes, therefore, Iraq has become America’s 51st state, a colony that will act as America’s gas station for decades to come. Iraq is destined to become the grease that provides the lubrication needed to run the great American engine. It will act as America’s aircraft carrier, the easier to patrol the world’s most strategic region. In time, Iraq will be used to invade, threaten, hold hostage and/or conquer the oil fields of Iran and those of the central Asian basin. From Iraq America’s new national security infrastructure, such as pipelines and refineries, can best be defended from any barbarian horde. Iraq is today the gateway towards attaining the Empire the elite and the delusional have always envisioned. It is the gateway towards power, control and untold wealth.

<snip>

To the elite way of thinking, the sacrifice of 3,500 dead soldiers, most poor and working class, from rural cesspools or urban jungles, is a minor and inconsequential inconvenience, along with the injury of 30,000 more, in the pursuit of Empire. These brave and oftentimes naïve and brainwashed soldiers are simply the expendable tools of wealth accumulation and empire building, the robots needed to pull the levers and push the buttons of the vast arsenal of killing machines developed by the military industrial complex. They are cannon fodder used not for defending freedom and democracy, but for defending the corporate bottom line and its shareholder wealth. In a nation of 300 million people, the death in Iraq of 3,500 soldiers, or 30,000 for that matter, is of little importance to the elite who see poor men and women as a means to an end. They are the collateral damage sacrificed in the name of predatory and debauched capitalism. They are the catalysts for corporatism to thrive.

Sadly, America will remain in Iraq for decades to come, occupying sand and dune, living behind massive concrete walls, inside enormous embassies and bases, all built to protect the ultimate prize of the 21st century: oil. Iraq is now a giant American forward operating base, a geostrategic prize from where the delusional elite can amplify their presence both in the Middle East and the Caspian basin. From Iraq the oil and natural gas fields of Iran are but a stone’s throw away. From Iraq and Afghanistan Central Asia becomes easier to threaten and control, easier for its energy resources to be exploited and defended against potential adversaries. From Iraq it is easier for the rising empire to contain, control and check the advancements of Russia, China and India.

Read the essay in its entirety here:

http://valenzuelasveritas.blogspot.com/2007/05/operation-iraq-forever.html

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parkia00 Donating Member (401 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 11:01 AM
Response to Original message
11. What's the other building at the back?
I've always wondered what that large building under construction in the back ground ont he right with the two white cranes and huge arches were ever since I first saw it on the news as a backgound used by some reporter. ANyone knows? It almost looks like a super large mosque.
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gatorboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat May-19-07 11:12 PM
Response to Reply #11
14. That's Gitmo 2.
Looks like they took up Romney's suggestion to double their efforts.
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benld74 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 12:11 PM
Response to Original message
12. Brought to you by W's Dubai buddies, see link below
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maddezmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-16-07 12:31 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. belated welcome to DU, benld74...that is a must read
Edited on Wed May-16-07 12:32 PM by maddezmom
:hi:

edited for spelling :hide:
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