Monday August 27, 2007, 6:47 am
By Jim Michaels, USA TODAY
The United States' largest and costliest embassy, a heavily fortified compound in Baghdad with its own power plant and lighted softball field, is on track to be completed next month, on time and within budget.
"We're going to complete it on schedule," said Charles Williams, director of the State Department's overseas building operations. It took two years to build, he said.

The 65-acre compound will be largely a world unto itself, insulated as much as possible from problems that plague the rest of Baghdad.

The facility sits on the banks of the Tigris River in the Green Zone, a walled-off area that houses Iraqi and U.S. offices. The embassy will have a separate set of 9-foot-high concrete walls to protect it against car or truck bombs. Many of the buildings also will have specially made bulletproof doors and windows, Williams said.

Baghdad experiences frequent utility outages, but the compound will have its own power, water and sewage plants.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Iraq | Baghdad | Williams | Kuwait | Department of State | Diplomats | Zone | Kuwaiti | Tigris River
Diplomats are limited in their ability to move outside the Green Zone because of violence, so the compound has soccer fields and a commissary for shopping, Williams said. The facility has 619 apartments and can accommodate 1,157 workers.

Building the facility in the middle of an insurgency was costly, but Williams said it will not exceed the $592 million budgeted. By having workers live inside the Green Zone, the U.S. government avoided a lot of the security costs that have hampered other construction projects throughout Iraq.

The builders, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, headquartered in Kuwait, brought in about 2,500 mostly non-Iraqi workers who lived in trailers in the Green Zone.

It was easier than trying to bring locals into the work site, he said. "The Iraqis were difficult to vet," Williams said.

First Kuwaiti has been accused by some former workers of abusive labor practices and housing workers in deplorable conditions at the Baghdad site.

"Foreign workers were packed into trailers very tight," John Owens, a former construction manager at the embassy, told a congressional panel last month. "There was insufficient equipment and basic needs, like shoes and gloves."

Williams said he has seen no evidence of abuses. A review last year by the State Department Inspector General did not substantiate the allegations. Williams said he expects the State Department to perform final inspections by Sept. 24 or 25. Diplomats could move in after that, he said.

Monday August 27, 2007, 8:03 am
already know about this and the $$$$ for contractors the US is paying, saw a drawing board pic of it before that got out, this is the 1st seen of it in the process and well on its way to being completed. Will Bush step down, makes you wonder when the election comes or declare emergency so he stays in.

Monday August 27, 2007, 8:03 am
already know about this and the $$$$ for contractors the US is paying, saw a drawing board pic of it before that got out, this is the 1st seen of it in the process and well on its way to being completed. Will Bush step down, makes you wonder when the election comes or declare emergency so he stays in.

Monday August 27, 2007, 8:13 am
New US Embassy in Baghdad: Size of Vatican City
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070124&articleId=4579

New U.S. Embassy in Iraq cloaked in mystery
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12319798/

PHOTOS: The $592 Million U.S. Embassy In Iraq
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/05/29/photos-embassy-iraq/

Building a Fortress on the Hill: Welcome to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/05/building_a_fort.html
"As the firm's website describes: "This self-contained compound will include the embassy itself, residences for the ambassador and staff, PX, commissary, cinema, retail and shopping, restaurants, schools, fire station and supporting facilities such as power generation, water purification system, telecommunications, and waste water treatment facilities. In total, the 104 acre compound will include over twenty buildings including one classified secure structure and housing for over 380 families."

Permanent military bases planned for Iraq
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ZEE20060514&articleId=2441

Is Our Baghdad Embassy being built with SLAVE LABOR?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/16/92339/6430

Plan Iraq - Permanent Occupation
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=13304

Monday August 27, 2007, 8:20 am
Sunshine the more you dig the dirtier it gets.

I don't have time to get more today, but it is there for those who care to look.

Everything about this is criminal.

I hope Americans will wake up and realize the real reason for the war in Iraq and mobilize to stop it.

I don't believe there will be an election unless the people can force impeachment by their own revolt.

And our troops will never come home...

Monday August 27, 2007, 8:42 am

noted

Monday August 27, 2007, 9:09 am
This isn't good. Thanks Spirit.

Monday August 27, 2007, 9:24 am
And people think "the troops" will someday leave Baghdad.
Yeah, right.
Thanx again, Spirit.
noted.

Monday August 27, 2007, 9:56 am
BushCo NEVER had any intentions of leaving Iraq and they still don't. We will be spilling blood there for many years to come. This illegal occupation was NEVER about terrorism, but it will be. We are building terrorists by our continued presents. We are teaching Iraqi children to HATE America and Americans and they will fight back. How blind can we be?!

Monday August 27, 2007, 2:30 pm
Greed GREED -- face it -- Bushco is not going to give up the money from tax payers!
Plus the oil -- he doesn't see the future except where it effects his pocket!

Monday August 27, 2007, 8:51 pm
Mary did it ever occur to you that Americans can rebel and stop paying taxes ?

CodePink , freedomtofascism.org and numerous organizations have explained this and it is a radical but highly effective nonviolent means of resistance.

Take your money out of the bank. Liquidate any shares and stocks you may have. Pull out all financial support for the system in every way that you can. Live as simply as possible. Get rid of Cable TV. Get your news from the internet. If VoIP is the new spy proof way of communicating, get rid of your phone.

Don't drive if you can use public transportation. Limit shopping and cater to small local business rather than corporations. Support the local people. BARTER !

Really be creative and see all the ways we as consumers, keep the war machine going. Then start reversing our habits and government will listen to the almighty $.

It means more to them than human life or the survival of all life on the planet.

Take part in the nation wide mass strike on September 11, 2007.

Do not travel. Do not go to work. Do not shop.

Not one dollar goes into the $ystem that day.

Just stay home and let the impact of our non-cooperation sink in.

Many nation wide strikes are planned.

Keep signing impeachment petitions but know it is time to escalate our strategies.

Failed petitions only empower a tyrant..Thomas Paine.

Now it is time to add strikes and many other actions to grind business as usual to a halt.