Rising on the banks of the Tigris River is the new US Embassy complex consisting of 21 buildings on 104 acres. This is 10 times bigger than most other embassies world-wide. It will have its own self-contained water wells, electrical and sewage systems. It will not be dependent for anything outside its thick reinforced walls, and, despite what goes on in war-torn Iraq, it will continuie to function serenely.
In the chaos that engulfs Iraq the Embassy project is the only one that is on target. It's due for completion in June 2007.
"The presence of a massive U.S. Embassy -- by far the largest in the world -- co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exercises power in their country," the International Crisis Group, a European-based research organization, said in one of its periodic reports on Iraq. The land is actually owned by the US having been turned over by one of Iraq's provisional governments. Doesn't sound like the US is leaving Iraq any time soon, does it? In fact Iraq is destined to be the new US power base in the Middle East.
As reported by the Washington Times: "The 5,500 Americans and Iraqis working at the embassy, almost half listed as security, are far more numerous than at any other U.S. mission worldwide. They rarely venture out into the "red zone," that is, violence-torn Iraq."
From Arab News:
The high-tech compound will have 21 buildings reinforced to 2.5 times usual standards. Some walls are said to be 15 feet thick or more. Scheduled for completion by June 2007, the installation is touted as not only the largest, but the most secure diplomatic embassy in the world.
The $592 million facility is being built inside the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of a Kuwaiti contractor, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report.
Besides two major diplomatic office buildings, homes for the ambassador and his deputy, and the six apartment buildings for staff, the compound will offer a swimming pool, gym, commissary, food court and American Club, all housed in a recreation building.
Security, overseen by US Marines, will be extraordinary: Setbacks and perimeter no-go areas that will be especially deep, structures reinforced to 2.5-times the standard, and five high-security entrances, plus an emergency entrance-exit, the Senate report says.
Congress has already appropriated $592 million for this project, and chances are that overall costs will exceed the $1 billion originally estimated. Most of this has gone to a Kuwaiti contractor who hires cheap foreign (non-Iraqui) labor.
From Arab News:
Work for the embassy was quietly awarded last summer to a controversial Kuwait-based construction firm, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting (FKTC).
FKTC has been accused of exploiting employees and coercing low-paid laborers to work in Iraq.
Several of the US contractors competing for the Baghdad embassy project said they were amazed at the US State Department’s decision to award the contract to FKTC.
They say that some competing contractors possessed far stronger experience in such work and that at least one award-winning company offered to perform all but the most classified work for $60 million to $70 million less than FKTC.
Several other contractors believe that a high-level decision at the State Department was made to favor a Kuwait-based firm in appreciation for Kuwait’s support of the invasion and occupation of Iraq.
“It was political,” said one contractor.
Along with the 4 major military bases in Iraq, the US is not going home any time soon. The construction cranes don't lie!