New Embassy

The construction of the U.S. palace embassy in Iraq is apparently not going too well ....




The WP's lead focuses on the problems facing the guards' base, which was built to house the embassy's security personnel and was supposed to be finished in January. When it finally opened in May, it was plagued with problems that were detailed in a "toughly worded cable" sent from Iraq to Washington that pointed out several issues with the construction, some of which were seen as potential safety threats to the staff. For example, a contractor admitted to using a toxic chemical in the construction of housing trailers. There's lots of finger-pointing between State Department officials, as well as among the different contractors, which ultimately "reflect the broader problems that have thwarted reconstruction efforts throughout war-torn Iraq," says the Post.