The Cranky American

To some people this is old news, but I don’t think that a lot of Americans are aware that back in 2005 the U.S. began constructing a Vatican sized embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. The cost to build this 80 football field long waste of space was $700 million. That’s right, one million times seven hundred. That’s a lot of fuckin’ money!

While on the hunt for more information I  stumbled upon articles stating that some of the many workers were fooled into their positions. Apparently dozens of workers were led to believe they were getting on a plane to Dubai when in fact, and without their knowledge, were going to be dumped in Iraq for their new job. What a surprise that must have been for them!

It’s all good though because supposedly they were paid pretty well. Maybe all that money can make up for the unsanitary working and living conditions provided to them during that time. Sleeping in a room with 20 other workers sounds pretty sweet. Wish I could have a job where security guards are flashing their guns, reminding you not to make too much a fuss. They’re hiring over there, do you need a job? Just click here to apply online.

More costs to be considered are the wages for all who work there. A place that big is going to need a lot of people to keep it clean, make sure any greenery is manicured, restaurants, security, receptionists, you get the picture. I wonder how many people work there now. It’s hard to get an exact answer to that question. I found an article from this year saying that the U.S. plans to downgrade to less than 20,000 employees after U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq. If the U.S. means to withdraw from Iraq they sure have a funny way of showing it.

Speaking of “our” plans to withdraw troops, is it even going to happen or do politicians just like to throw around empty promises? Doug Bandow recently wrote this article that says:

“The U.S. is supposed to be leaving Iraq. But the Obama administration is desperately lobbying Baghdad to keep American troops in place, which would turn Iraq into yet another costly U.S. military dependent.”

What started out as one question for me “We built a U.S. embassy in Iraq?” has bloomed into more questions while researching the first. Why did “we” spend over $700 million to build an embassy in a country that we didn’t need to be in to begin with? I think it’s been made pretty clear that the excuse of Weapons of Mass Destruction was a bunch of horse shit. So we didn’t find any WMD but we stayed and then we planned to leave then built and embassy but still plan to withdraw this year?  Our government must think we are a bunch of suckers.