From The Houston Chronicle, 5/20/06:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3876208.html

Embassy is biggest secret in Baghdad

From The Houston Chronicle, 5/20/06:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3876208.html
Embassy is biggest secret in Baghdad

From The Houston Chronicle, 5/20/06:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3876208.html

Embassy is biggest secret in Baghdad

Security is tight, but it's hard to hide Americans' 104-acre facility

By LEILA FADEL
Fort Worth Star-telegram


BAGHDAD, IRAQ -

Don't ask about the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

It's a secret -- security reasons.

But it's hard keeping a 104-acre complex rising on the banks of the
Tigris River hidden.

Anyone who cares to know can easily see four giant construction cranes
towering over the river at the largest such project ever undertaken by
the United States -- a symbol of American presence that will last well
into the future.

When the complex is completed by June 2007 -- this one apparently is
on schedule, unlike most construction projects here -- it will be an
American oasis in the heavily fortified Green Zone, away from the fear
and lack of services that permeate the rest of Baghdad.

Among the 21 buildings will be a recreation center to rival any in the
United States with, among other amenities, a pool, gym, food court,
beauty salon and, of course, the American Club.

Baghdad may have little potable water and only a few hours of
electricity a day, but the embassy complex will have its own water
treatment facilities and electricity generator.

First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, a subcontractor of
Houston-based Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown and Root, was granted the
$592 million construction contract.

By December, it had already been paid about $483 million.

The company is a relative novice when it comes to embassy building and
has been criticized for its treatment of Asian workers, who critics
claim are imported for their low wages and work under hard conditions.

About 900 laborers live on site as they build the complex, according
to a report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has
oversight responsibility for the project.

But little else can be gleaned about the expansive complex, which will
sit on some of central Baghdad's most desirable real estate and will,
when finished, dominate the view of anyone on the other side of the
river.

U.S. officials here greet questions about the site with a curtness
that borders on hostility.

Reporters are referred to the State Department in Washington, which
declined to answer questions for security reasons.

The only person who would comment on the reasons behind the massive
size of the rising embassy was the spokesman for Sen. Richard Lugar,
R-Ind., the chairman of the foreign relations committee.

"The anticipation has always been that the U.S. will have a large
diplomatic presence in Iraq," said Andy Fisher.

Money for the project was approved as part of a separate emergency
appropriation for embassy security, construction and maintenance and
wasn't part of the $18.4 billion set aside for Iraq reconstruction.

The construction project is larger than that of any U.S. Embassy built
on foreign soil. In 2004, the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations
said the U.S. Embassy in China was the largest embassy construction
project, but at a 10 acres and five buildings, it isn't even
comparable to what's going up here.

____________________________________________________________

$592 million? Pocket change. What else would we do with it. It's gonna
have a terrific swimming pool.

Harry