A New Turkey in Baghdad: Embassy Folly, Pontifex Maximus on the Tigris
Probably no embassy has been written and talked about for the past 27 years as much as the new American embassy in Baghdad. And for good reasons, that is, for all the wrong reasons. Media comments about it have ranged from "mysterious', "shrouded in mystery" (sort of like Bram Stoker's description of Dracula's castle), "monstrous", "fortress on a hill", to "as cloaked in mystery as a ministate in Rome" (a good one, with Ambassador Ryan Crocker as the Pontifex Maximus?). It has also been plagued by accusations of using slave labor or forced labor through a sub-contractor (First Kuwaiti Trading & Contracting): the contractor was accused in congressional hearings of having tricked Asian workers to fly to Baghdad on the pretext of flying them into Dubai and forcing them to disembark at gunpoint- and frankly that doesn't sound far-fetched. The sub-contracting was done through a subsidiary of Halliburton (HAL: the share price has been stuck in the low 30's).
One British newspaper even absurdly claimed that the location of the embassy was a secret, even with 21 buildings over 104 acres of land, and a budget that is estimated at over $ 1 billion (Congress has appropriated about $ 600 million so far).
John Brown, a former diplomate writing in CommonDreams.org, quotes a former US ambassador recalling a Cold War era joke: the Soviets were proud to have the biggest microchip in the world. He hopes the same will not be said about the new embassy- unflattering media descriptions make it sound quite Stalinesque but with an Arab twist: a lot of palm trees.
Ironically and sadly this new embassy will be known as the only major project in Iraq to be completed on time, with its own reliable power and water systems- but it was not built to benefit Iraqis. It may prove to be a public relations and media nightmare for U.S policy in Iraq, and perhaps in the Arab region as a whole. It stands out like the proverbial sore thumb, reminiscent of a Saddam palace only much bigger, telling Iraqis everyday, 24/7, where the real power lies in their country. From the point of view of many detractors of constitutional change in Iraq it makes a mockery of the idea of sovereignty and self-rule.
Who and where are the geniuses who think up such projects? How the hell do they come up with these turkeys?
Cheers
Mohammed
m.h.ghuloum@gmail.com
Comments