lance
08-09-2007, 11:30 AM
A 'White House' in Iraq
By Mohammad Akif Jamal, Special to Gulf News
Published: August 08, 2007, 23:08
.......
But our additional information will neither be related to the biggest cake ever baked nor the most expensive yacht. Our addition will be related to the largest embassy in the history.
The embassy of the United States in Baghdad will be our focus. Its location is a top secret. But secrets are made to be discovered, and a project of this size cannot be easily concealed.
Residents around Baghdad have started asking questions about the new forest of giant building cranes within the Green Zone overlooking the River Tigris.
It was soon revealed by a report prepared by a Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which fell in the hands of the media, that three years after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussain only one major US building project in Iraq is on schedule and within budget: the massive new American embassy compound.
The facility is being built in the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of non-Iraqi companies and contractors, according to the Senate Committee report.
Construction material and equipment are stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq's roads. The massive new embassy is designed to be entirely self-sufficient and won't be dependent on Iraq's unreliable public utilities.
The 420,000 sq meters complex will include two office buildings, one of them designed for future use as a school, six apartment buildings, a gym, a pool, a food court and its own power generation and water-treatment plants.
The current US embassy in Iraq employs nearly 1,000 Americans, more than at any other American embassy. Most embassy functions are housed in Saddam Hussain's Republican Palace in the Green Zone.
Fortified area
The cost of the project is estimated at over $1 billion. The designs aren't publicly available, but the Senate report makes it clear that it will be a self-sufficient and fortified area.
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.
Despite the fact the embassy is the size of the Vatican, its political role will be much greater. The US ambassador on the other hand will be the Middle East's pope and will carry the commander's stick directing great troops and armies.
The great size of the embassy in itself is an indicator to the central role it will assume in implementing the greater Middle East plan which the US had in mind at the onset of Iraq's invasion. http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/08/09/10145126.html
By Mohammad Akif Jamal, Special to Gulf News
Published: August 08, 2007, 23:08
.......
But our additional information will neither be related to the biggest cake ever baked nor the most expensive yacht. Our addition will be related to the largest embassy in the history.
The embassy of the United States in Baghdad will be our focus. Its location is a top secret. But secrets are made to be discovered, and a project of this size cannot be easily concealed.
Residents around Baghdad have started asking questions about the new forest of giant building cranes within the Green Zone overlooking the River Tigris.
It was soon revealed by a report prepared by a Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which fell in the hands of the media, that three years after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussain only one major US building project in Iraq is on schedule and within budget: the massive new American embassy compound.
The facility is being built in the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of non-Iraqi companies and contractors, according to the Senate Committee report.
Construction material and equipment are stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq's roads. The massive new embassy is designed to be entirely self-sufficient and won't be dependent on Iraq's unreliable public utilities.
The 420,000 sq meters complex will include two office buildings, one of them designed for future use as a school, six apartment buildings, a gym, a pool, a food court and its own power generation and water-treatment plants.
The current US embassy in Iraq employs nearly 1,000 Americans, more than at any other American embassy. Most embassy functions are housed in Saddam Hussain's Republican Palace in the Green Zone.
Fortified area
The cost of the project is estimated at over $1 billion. The designs aren't publicly available, but the Senate report makes it clear that it will be a self-sufficient and fortified area.
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.
Despite the fact the embassy is the size of the Vatican, its political role will be much greater. The US ambassador on the other hand will be the Middle East's pope and will carry the commander's stick directing great troops and armies.
The great size of the embassy in itself is an indicator to the central role it will assume in implementing the greater Middle East plan which the US had in mind at the onset of Iraq's invasion. http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/08/09/10145126.html