U.S. Building Largest Embassy (in human history) in Iraq

[ECH1969]

The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future.

"We can't talk about it. Security reasons," Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project.

The embassy complex — 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report — is taking shape on riverside parkland. State Department spokesman Justin Higgins defended the size of the embassy, old and new, saying it's indicative of the work facing the United States here.

It will have its own water wells, electricity plant and wastewaster-treatment facility, "systems to allow 100 percent independence from city utilities," says the report, the most authoritative open source on the embassy plans.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/04/14/international/i105942D92.DTL

[dubyaD40web]

1. Why Why Why Why Why?????

n/t

[GDAEx2]

8. Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil Oil !!!!!

eom

[file83]

23. Permanent Occupation!! Permanent Occupation!! Permanent Occupation!!

eom

[Demeter]

25. Bush's Retirement Home

So he can have all his friends, cronies, and wives live with him in luxury and safety.

[katty]

2. been reading about this for years..foreign press/alt coverage

[cliss]

3. Who's going to want to work there?

I've read that the new Embassy will house about 3,000 employees, the largest in the world.

I believe this "project" will cost about 4 billion to build. It will require billions more to protect; it will be a massive compound with about a 1-mile perimeter to keep the insurgents out.

It will probably look like a cancerous tumour, sitting right by the arterial waterway of the Tigris.

(highly doubt it will come to pass)

[sinkingfeeling]

6. And will require 130,000 American troops to protect it for 100 yrs.

[electricmonk]

4. Doesn't sound like an embassy to me

Sounds more like the true seat of power.

[cassiepriam]

9. Yes, this is not an embassy. It is a castle.

[worldgonekrazy]

13. "Fortress" would be a better description

But can you really stick a fortress right smack in the middle of a hostile zone? I don't care how self sufficient it is, I don't see it working out that well.

[eppur_se_muova]

27. Dingdingdingding! We have a winner! "Fortress" it is! nt

[Pachamama]

22. I find the comparison to the Vatican/Vatican City very odd & yet telling!

Remember, the Vatican is the seat of power of the Catholic Church - Vatican City is actually its own "country" - Embassies are foreign soil effectively....

So, what they are basically creating is a fortress/City/Country in the heart of Baghdad that is going to be the seat of power? And is the reference to the Vatican/Vatican City some kind of Fundie X-tian thing? A big Eff you to the Muslim world in the heart of Babylon? :shrug:

[Rex]

5. It will be our little fiefdom.

Did they get approval from the Iraq Govern...Gov...BAWHAHAHAHA..hahaahaa...bawhaha... :rofl: Sorry can't say that with a straight face. Bush will change the name of the city Baghdad to BFEEdad. In honor of Poppy.

[reprobate]

7. Iran should thank us for the great government center we're building them.

After the Shia join with Iran and drive us out of Iraq they'll owe us big time for the wonderfull government center we will leave for them. The biggest thing about a fort is who occupies it.

[0007]

10. And soon they'll be equating Donald Rumsfeld with Teddy Roosevelt

They do kind of look a like, 'eh?

[global1]

11. Will It Have A Big Statue Of G.W.Bush - Like The Saddam Statue We...

saw being toppled on TV?

[leftchick]

12. The Iraqis are not fooled who is in charge

It is just another target....

<snip>

"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 group, said in one of its periodic reports on Iraq.

[dasmarian]

14. The Minstry of Love or

The tower of Babel? One is from 1984, the other from the Bible.

Both seem apropos, depending on whether you have a religious or political outlook. Both are bad.

[Vidar]

15. The Tower of Babel rises again.

[Post]

16. Apologizing for Ruining Babylon

Col Coleman is an idiot. Using ancient archeological samples to fill sandbags. He's a dirtbag. here:
http://postanapology.blogspot.com/2006/04/babylon-apology.html#links

[leftchick]

17. Photo of construction

Construction cranes are seen above the site of the new United States embassy being built in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 21, 2006. The fortress-like compound rising on the banks of the Tigris River will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City in Rome, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future. (AP Photo)

[feistydem]

18. That's a big "F**k You" to New Orleans! -Love, George, Dick, Donald & Karl

Halliburton's Board must be so pleased.

[acmavm]

19. Oh yeah, to New Orleans, to the aged, to people who have no

health insurance, to the schools, to the homeless and the hungry. To us all.

[Gregorian]

20. Someone's going to pay for this!

Oh, that would be us. I guess we foot all of their bills.

[bvar22]

21. No, we aren't paying for this one.

WE are still paying for Reagan and the S&L robbrery.

Iraq is all going on the Credit Card. The bill for IRAQ will be sent to YOUR children.
Talk about Taxation Without Representation.
Your children should be pissed!

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[Festivito]

24. I guess we'll be "paying for it" when our children get even with us.

Oh, we will pay for it, when suddenly there won't be enough SS money to keep paying the people who paid into the system.

[roguevalley]

26. Think Krak de Chevalier. Think the Citadel. Think the Hanging

Gardens of Babylon. Think the last vestiges of colonialism in a sea of rage.