Computer-generated images of the US embassy complex in Baghdad were posted on the architect’s website. Photograph: AP Construction of the U.S. embassy in Iraq, set to open in September, is projected to cost $592 million, with a staff of 1,000 people and operating costs totaling $1.2 billion a year. It will be a 104-acre complex, which is the size of approximately 80 football fields. On May 10, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) criticized the ballooning size and cost of the embassy in a hearing with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:
Now, having said over and over again that we don’t want to be seen as an occupying force in Iraq, we’re building the largest embassy that we have — probably the largest in the world — in Baghdad. And it just seems to grow and grow and grow. … We agree that we should focus our aid locally not in Baghdad, but we have 1,000 Americans at the embassy in Baghdad. You add the contractors and the local staff it comes to 4,000.
The architectural firm designing the embassy, Berger Define Yaeger, has posted the designs for the colossus on its website. Some previews of the compound’s planned swimming pool and tennis courts:
The 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 U.S. embassy is likely to create even greater Iraqi resentment toward the U.S. occupation. While Americans will be living in posh quarters, the citizens of Baghdad are forced to survive with just 5.6 hours of electricity a day. Baghdad was also recently rated the world’s worst city in which to live.
UPDATE: The residence of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq will be 16,000 square feet. The deputy chief of mission in Iraq will have a “cozy cottage” measuring 9,500 square feet. Source
And from Al Jazeera….
Detailed plans for the new US embassy being built in Baghdad, America’s largest diplomatic mission abroad, have appeared online in a major breach of the project’s security.
Images of the soon-to-be completed compound were posted on the website of Berger Devine Yaeger Inc, the American architectural firm contracted to design the facility.
The company removed the plans on Thursday, shortly after being contacted by the US state department.
“We work very hard to ensure the safety and security of our employees overseas,” Gozalo Gallegos, a state department spokesman, said.
The 10 images posted on the website included a scheme of the overall layout of the compound, plus depictions of individual buildings, including the embassy itself, office annexes, the Marine Corps security post, swimming pool, recreation centre, ambassador’s and deputy ambassador’s residences.
No comment
“In terms of commenting whether they’re accurate, obviously we wouldn’t be commenting on that because we don’t want people to know whether they’re accurate or not for security reasons,” Dan Sreebny, a spokesman for the embassy in Baghdad, said.
One senior official said: “People are eventually going to figure out where all these places are, but you don’t have to draw them a map.”
Identified as the “Baghdad US Embassy Compound Master Plan”, the images show palm-lined paths and green grass gardens, volleyball and basketball courts outside the marine post, as well as the swimming pool, all with a view of the river.
According to the website: “In total, the 104-acre compound will include over twenty buildings, including one classified secure structure and housing for over 380 families.”
Many Iraqis are enraged by the massive new building when they are unable get electricity or running water.
The project, which has been dubbed “George W’s Palace” by Iraqis, is valued at $592m.
The current US embassy is housed in Saddam Hussein’s former Republican Palace, also in the Green Zone. Washington wants to return the buildings, and many other palaces occupied by US forces after the 2003 US-led invasion, to Iraqi authorities.
US embassy plans appear online – The Guardian – 01 June. 07
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