I was reading over the weekend, again, about the new U.S. uber-Embassy that's being built in Baghdad. I'm interested in its progress because it's one of the few physical examples of any progress in Iraq. But also, its construction is a plain indication of the plan for Iraq that the Administration has but rarely talks about.
We don't hear much about it, but with a $1.2 billion per year ongoing commitment, you don't need any speeches to dramatize those intentions. When it's done, on schedule for September, it'll be a small city of 4000 employees spread over a 104 acre lot. A $592 million-dollar-price tag for what amounts to a big step in globalization.
A 5/24/07 Washington Post article details some of the downfalls of this type of endeavor, specifically interruptions to incoming supplies. How ironic is it to read about an American in Iraq complaining about his fresh fruit being delayed?
Through 5/29/07 articles at Tom Dispatch, & Think Progress, I got a glimpse of the computer-animated renditions of the various buildings in the complex on the BDY web site. (Berger Devine Yaeger is the American company that was contracted to design the facility.) It seemed like a strange coincidence that tonight I would see new articles about the images being removed at the request of the State Department. At this time, the company's site isn't coming up at all...
An AP article at The International Herald Tribune quoted Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador to Iraq:
"We have enough challenges out here, both the military and the civilian elements of our government, without having that kind of thing taking place back home," Ryan Crocker said on a Sunday television interview. "We certainly hope that it will not have any lasting impact on our security."
Yeah...we hope not Ryan. Why does he always look like a deer in the headlights? Maybe now the embassy will become mainstream news and the rest of the country will finally get a chance to mull this over. Will people draw the line and demand that our elected representatives reverse this policy of long-term commitment?
*** As an update, here's a July 5, 2007 Washington Post article about some of the dangerously shoddy construction at the embassy. It paints a bleak picture for anyone who's going to be stationed there.
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