'Not Big Enough'
Half Billion Dollar U.S. Embassy in Baghdad 'Not Big Enough'?Embassy in Baghdad 'Not Big Enough'?
By Sharon Weinberger July 24, 2007 8:32:04 AMCategories: War Update
The massive embassy rising in Baghdad's fortified green zone may not be big enough to house all the planned employees, the LA Times reports. "Despite its brash scale and nearly $600-million cost, the compound designed to accommodate more than 1,000 people is not big enough, and may not be safe enough if a major military pullout leaves the country engulfed in a heightened civil war, U.S. planners now say," the paper writes.
More problematic, however, is how the embassy appears to be viewed by Iraqis.
"It's all for them, all of Iraq's resources, water, electricity, security," said Raid Kadhim Kareem, who has watched the buildings go up at a floodlighted site bristling with construction cranes from his post guarding an abandoned home on the other side of the Tigris River. "It's as if it's their country, and we are guests staying here."
Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations had a different way to describe the embassy, particularly in the even of an all out civil war: "If the government of Iraq collapses and becomes transparently just one party in a civil war, you've got Ft. Apache in the middle of Indian country, but the Indians have mortars now."
By Sharon Weinberger July 24, 2007 8:32:04 AMCategories: War Update
The massive embassy rising in Baghdad's fortified green zone may not be big enough to house all the planned employees, the LA Times reports. "Despite its brash scale and nearly $600-million cost, the compound designed to accommodate more than 1,000 people is not big enough, and may not be safe enough if a major military pullout leaves the country engulfed in a heightened civil war, U.S. planners now say," the paper writes.
More problematic, however, is how the embassy appears to be viewed by Iraqis.
"It's all for them, all of Iraq's resources, water, electricity, security," said Raid Kadhim Kareem, who has watched the buildings go up at a floodlighted site bristling with construction cranes from his post guarding an abandoned home on the other side of the Tigris River. "It's as if it's their country, and we are guests staying here."
Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations had a different way to describe the embassy, particularly in the even of an all out civil war: "If the government of Iraq collapses and becomes transparently just one party in a civil war, you've got Ft. Apache in the middle of Indian country, but the Indians have mortars now."
Foodfight at U.S. Embassy in IraqBy Sharon Weinberger July 05, 2007 10:04:58 AMCategories: Cash Rules Everything Around Me
Concerns over the half billion dollar boondoggle, I mean embassy, in Iraq are growing to include accusations of shoddy construction and safety hazards. Problems first emerged when workers tried to use the new guard post kitchen, according to an article in the Washington Post:
The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then a burning smell enveloped the kitchen as the wiring began to melt.
All the food from the old guard camp -- a collection of tents -- had been carted to the new facility, in the expectation that the 1,200 guards would begin moving in the next day. But according to the cable, the electrical meltdown was just the first problem in a series of construction mistakes that soon left the base uninhabitable, including wiring problems, fuel leaks and noxious fumes in the sleeping trailers.
"Poor quality construction . . . life safety issues . . . left [the embassy] with no recourse but to shut the camp down, in spite of the blistering heat in Baghdad," the May 29 cable informed Washington.
The safety concerns have led to a lot of finger pointing, particularly at First Kuwaiti, which was responsible for the construction. First Kuwaiti is also under investigation for allegations that it brought workers to Iraq under false
Concerns over the half billion dollar boondoggle, I mean embassy, in Iraq are growing to include accusations of shoddy construction and safety hazards. Problems first emerged when workers tried to use the new guard post kitchen, according to an article in the Washington Post:
The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then a burning smell enveloped the kitchen as the wiring began to melt.
All the food from the old guard camp -- a collection of tents -- had been carted to the new facility, in the expectation that the 1,200 guards would begin moving in the next day. But according to the cable, the electrical meltdown was just the first problem in a series of construction mistakes that soon left the base uninhabitable, including wiring problems, fuel leaks and noxious fumes in the sleeping trailers.
"Poor quality construction . . . life safety issues . . . left [the embassy] with no recourse but to shut the camp down, in spite of the blistering heat in Baghdad," the May 29 cable informed Washington.
The safety concerns have led to a lot of finger pointing, particularly at First Kuwaiti, which was responsible for the construction. First Kuwaiti is also under investigation for allegations that it brought workers to Iraq under false
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 7:37 PM
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