Plans for US Embassy in Baghdad May be Scaled Down

[doxieone]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBTQXZJV4E.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Plans for the largest U.S. embassy in the world - a $1 billion compound envisioned for Iraq's capital - may be shrinking even before it has been built.

About $660 million for construction of a fortified complex is expected to be included in President Bush's request to Congress for some $80 billion the administration says it needs in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, according to congressional aides from both parties.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because the spending request has yet to be released. It could go to Capitol Hill this week.

(snip)

The idea of building a large permanent facility in Iraq has detractors, who say this may not be the time, and Baghdad not the place, for such a project.

"A huge U.S. embassy does not fit the political mood of Iraq and I think it sends the wrong message," said Frederick Barton, a former official of the U.N. refugee agency and U.S. Agency for International Development who now is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

[LynnTheDem]

1. Every single thing bush has EVER touched turns into a total FUBAR.

Every thing.

Every time.

This will not be an exception.

[Cocoa]

2. if they don't scale it down

the insurgents will.

[NNN0LHI]

7. They hate us for our embassies...er..ah..I mean our freedoms n/t

[Kolesar]

3. They will want to keep the helipad...eom

[Rose Siding]

4. In a related story...

snip>
According to figures obtained by the AP, Bush would slice a $600 million grant program for local police agencies to $60 million next year. Grants to local firefighters, for which Congress provided $715 million this year, would fall to $500 million.

He would eliminate the $300 million the government gives to states for incarcerating illegal aliens who commit crimes. It's a proposal he has made in the past and one that Congress has ignored. Also gone would be assistance for police departments to improve technology and their ability to communicate with other agencies.

The Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites)'s $8.1 billion would drop by $450 million, or about 6 percent, with most of the reductions coming in water programs and projects won by lawmakers for their home districts.

The Bureau of Indians Affairs would be sliced by $100 million to $2.2 billion. The reduction would come almost entirely from the agency's effort to build more schools.

The $2.2 billion program that provides low-income people — in large part the elderly — with home-heating aid would be cut to $2 billion.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050206/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_budget_7

:cry:

[leesa]

5. I suggest they pitch a tent, they won't be staying long.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Baghdad Embassy Plans Were For $1 Billion Compound

http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=174D8E12-31C1-4A2C-82C4-7169D4903A08

Washington — Plans for the largest U.S. embassy in the world — a $1 billion compound envisioned for Iraq's capital — may be shrinking even before it has been built. About $660 million for construction of a fortified complex is expected to be included in President Bush's request to Congress for some $80 billion the administration says it needs in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, according to congressional aides from both parties. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the spending request has yet to be released. It could go to Capitol Hill this week. Last year officials said the Baghdad mission would include 700

more

[TahitiNut]

8. I guess Saddam's palaces just weren't good enough.

:puke:

If anybody thinks that embassy is going to cost less than $1 billion, I've got a bridge to sell them. After cost overruns and corporatist embezzlement, it'll be well above $1 billion. I'll make book on it. At the same time, they'll keep the labor 'costs' well below 100 million - and fuck the workers.

[struggle4progress]

11. Yes.

[shadowknows69]

9. have we asked the new government

if they even want us to have a shiny new embassy?

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. Of course they do

how could they say no, when they've got 150,000 American troops occupying their country? What choice do they have? Support the occupation or go to Abu Ghraib?