IRAQ: 6,000 Rms, Riv Vu!
- Share via
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The on-again, off-again move by the U.S. Embassy into its new, riverfront home is off again until further notice. Plans to occupy the State Department’s very own McMansion on the banks of Baghdad’s Tigris River have faced hiccups for months.
The new Embassy, which resembles a sprawling shopping mall, had originally been scheduled for completion in June 2007, nearly three years after 104 acres of land was turned over for its construction. That date was set back to September 2007 because of delays encountered working in a battle zone.
Asked Thursday when the new move-in date was, Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said she did not know. ‘We may be looking at late spring, but we don’t have anything yet,’ she said. Later, Nantongo suggested that even spring was an optimistic guess. ‘There’s no date yet,’ she said.
Since last fall, the $600-million project has been undergoing revisions, which depending on various accounts were the result of either shoddy construction or simple alterations. The changes have added another $140 million to the price tag.
In October State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said it was natural to make last-minute changes during a large construction project. But Rep. Henry A. Waxman, the Los Angeles Democrat who heads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said documents showed hundreds of building code violations in the Embassy, making it unfit to occupy.
Embassy officials have mainly cited security reasons as they dodge questions on when they plan to move.
The current Embassy is housed in one of Saddam Hussein’s old palaces, within Baghdad’s fortified International, or Green, Zone. The chandeliers, mosaics, and marble bathrooms are impressive, but employees are crammed several to a room.
The new compound is only about three miles away, also within the Green Zone. In addition to its river view, it might offer close-up views of another symbol of Baghdad — the occasional mortar shells that zoom across the river into the Green Zone.
— Tina Susman in Baghdad
