2007.07.20: July 20, 2007: Headlines: COS - Uzbekistan: Iraq: Speaking Out: Diplomacy: The Daily Press: Uzbekistan RPCV John Smart writes: U.S. embassy or is it George W. Bush's palace?

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Uzbekistan: Peace Corps Uzbekistan : Peace Corps Uzbekistan: Newest Stories: 2007.07.20: July 20, 2007: Headlines: COS - Uzbekistan: Iraq: Speaking Out: Diplomacy: The Daily Press: Uzbekistan RPCV John Smart writes: U.S. embassy or is it George W. Bush's palace?

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Uzbekistan RPCV John Smart writes: U.S. embassy or is it George W. Bush's palace?

Uzbekistan RPCV John Smart writes: U.S. embassy or is it George W. Bush's palace?

It's not only the largest embassy in the world, it's the largest embassy ever constructed by any nation, anywhere, at any time in history! It's larger than Vatican City and much more secure — the outer walls are 15 feet thick. In a country that has only a couple of hours of electricity a day, the new embassy will have its own generators, and in a society where drinkable water is a scarce and precious commodity, it will have its own water filtration system. The people outside those 15-foot walls might get a bit testy about this display of wealth, don't you think? The Iraqis, accustomed as they were to Saddam's numerous marble extravaganzas are referring to this mega-complex as "George W's Palace." Again, I wonder why? It's costing us billions for sure, although that information is apparently classified. Don't you think we should know what it's for? Or maybe we do know what it's for. Maybe it's all of a piece with the expensive and evidently permanent military bases that the Bush administration is building in Iraq. Maybe the plan all along was to occupy this keystone country in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. Maybe that's why George W. Bush is so angered by the congress's repeated attempts to put timelines and deadlines on our occupation forces: He has no intention of us ever leaving.

Uzbekistan RPCV John Smart writes: U.S. embassy or is it George W. Bush's palace?

U.S. embassy or is it George W. Bush's palace?

A Commentary

John Smart

The Daily Press

Friday, July 20th, 2007 09:02:57 AM

The press last month reported on a cable from U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker to his boss, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. According to The Washington Post, the ambassador bluntly told the secretary that he needed more staff, and better staff than he'd been getting lately! He said, "Simply put, we cannot do the nation's most important work if we do not have the Department's best people." And he has a big embassy to fill.

I'd made a note to myself to check on the progress of the new Embassy of the United States of America in Baghdad. It was scheduled to be completed by June but it appears that they didn't make that completion date. It must be difficult to keep to a schedule in a war zone, even with a Kuwaiti construction firm that uses underpaid East Asian laborers (as opposed to hiring Iraqis, who are seriously underemployed).

The information is pretty scanty. Not much detail about the new embassy is available anywhere. I wonder why? I mean it's not easy to keep secret a 104-acre compound in the "Green Zone" on the bank of the mighty Tigris River containing 21 structures, including six apartment buildings, a swimming pool/gymnasium complex, a beauty/barber salon and a food court just like in a state-side shopping mall.

It's not only the largest embassy in the world, it's the largest embassy ever constructed by any nation, anywhere, at any time in history! It's larger than Vatican City and much more secure — the outer walls are 15 feet thick. In a country that has only a couple of hours of electricity a day, the new embassy will have its own generators, and in a society where drinkable water is a scarce and precious commodity, it will have its own water filtration system.

The people outside those 15-foot walls might get a bit testy about this display of wealth, don't you think? The Iraqis, accustomed as they were to Saddam's numerous marble extravaganzas are referring to this mega-complex as "George W's Palace."

Again, I wonder why? It's costing us billions for sure, although that information is apparently classified. Don't you think we should know what it's for? Or maybe we do know what it's for.

Maybe it's all of a piece with the expensive and evidently permanent military bases that the Bush administration is building in Iraq. Maybe the plan all along was to occupy this keystone country in the Middle East for the foreseeable future. Maybe that's why George W. Bush is so angered by the congress's repeated attempts to put timelines and deadlines on our occupation forces: He has no intention of us ever leaving.

OK, so they want to occupy Iraq in perpetuity — again I ask, why? Could it be oil? Could those stories have been true all along that the real reason for our invasion of Iraq was the oil? Might it be that the long-term plan hatched by the neo-cons in this administration involved domination of the entire oil-rich Middle East from their central control headquarters in Baghdad? I mean, we didn't invade Bangladesh or Peru! Is that what Bill Kristol and his cronies meant with their Project for the New American Century?

Pretty far-fetched? Oh, I don't know — thanks to George Tenet's recent tell-all book, we now know that Richard Perle talked about taking over Iraq on September 12, 2001, the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He had no idea, at the time, who was responsible for the terrorist attacks, but his first thought was to take out Saddam Hussein. Could it be that they'd already decided to take out Saddam, and that 9/11 provided them with the cover they needed?

I have never been a conspiracy theorist, and I would rather not even be speculating about such things. It's difficult to imagine Americans acting this way, but greed and power have a nasty way of warping people's perceptions.

The question must be this: is this policy consistant with Americans' traditional view of themselves? Do we want to become a predator, invading other nations and creating permanent occupation forces to maintain control? And if that isn't what we're doing, then what the hell is that gargantuan embassy in Baghdad all about?

John Smart lives in Park Falls, is a member of the Wisconsin Governor's Commission on the United Nations, the UN Association of the USA and Citizens for Global Solutions. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Uzbekistan from 1995 through 1998, serves on the Park Falls School Board and chairs the Democratic Party of Price County.




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