The US is constructing an enormous new embassy complex of many buildings in Bagdad.
Of course, the overall construction contract went to a subsidiary of Halliburton. Then they subcontracted much of the work to a Kuwaiti company who are using low-wage Asian temporary workers for much of the work. There is no reason to try to employ all those millions of unemployed Iraqis, is there???
The following article from Knight-Ridder papers describes how the US is comically trying to keep this huge project a secret - because they don't want the construction site to be a target for terrorists.
http://www.philly.com/...
(registration with Knight-Ridder required)
Excerpt:
"Baghdad may have little potable water and only a few hours of electricity a day, but the embassy complex will have its own water treatment facilities and electricity generator..."
Excerpt continued:
"First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, a subcontractor of Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown & Root subsidiary, was granted the $592 million construction contract. By December, it already had been paid about $483 million. The company is a relative novice when it comes to embassy building and has been criticized for its treatment of Asian workers, who critics say are imported for their willingness to work for low wages and who labor under hard conditions. About 900 laborers live on site as they build the complex, according to a report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has congressional oversight responsibility for the project.
Beyond security, it's no secret why a luxurious embassy might be needed in Baghdad. The State Department is finding it more difficult to persuade people to staff the embassy here, the Foreign Relations Committee report said. The post needs people with language skills and experience that are already hard to find. Americans can't bring their families here, and the kidnappings and violence relegate Americans to the embassy complex. The current embassy staff, about 1,000 Americans, lives in makeshift trailers in the Green Zone and works out of temporary quarters at the Republican Palace, which Saddam Hussein built to honor himself..."
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Here's another article, from the Times of London that describes the many needed projects in Iraq that have not come close to completion in the last 4 years of spending:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2162249,00.html
