Xanadu

What can you get for $592 million US?

Why, you can get a diplomatic compound in an up and coming neighborhood in Baghdad. Witness the splendor of the new US embassy:

Take a look, for instance, at the embassy's "pool house", as imagined by [the design/build firm]. You will see palm trees dotted around it, the expansive lawns, and those tennis courts discreetly in the background. For an American official not likely to leave the constricted, heavily fortified, 6.4-kilometer-square Green Zone during a year's tour of duty, practicing his or her serve (on the taxpayer's dollar) is undoubtedly no small thing.

Admittedly, it may be hard to take that refreshing dip or catch a few sets of tennis in Baghdad's heat if the present order for all US personnel in the Green Zone to wear flak jackets and helmets at all times remains in effect - or if, as in the present palace/embassy, the pool (as well as ping-pong tables) is declared, thanks to increasing mortar and missile attacks, temporarily "off limits". In that case, more time will probably be spent in the massive, largely windowless-looking recreation center, one of more than 20 blast-resistant buildings [the design/build firm] has planned.

You would actually be able to view this palace, if the website hadn't been taken down. The Washington Post is reporting that:

"virtually every bite and sip consumed [in the embassy] is imported from the United States, entering Iraq via Kuwait in huge truck convoys that bring fresh and processed food, including a full range of Baskin-Robbins ice-cream flavors, every seven to 10 days".

Annual operating expenses are expected to run in the range of $1.2 billion. The State department, according to the Asia Times, is lobbying Congress to fund $50 million worth of additional "blast-resistant" housing.

And they say progress isn't being made....