Massive New Embassy in Iraq Flaunts US Power, Critics Say
Construction cranes are seen above the site of the new United States embassy being built in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 21, 2006. The fortress-like compound rising on the banks of the Tigris River will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City in Rome, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future
The presence of a massive U.S. embassy — by far the largest in the world — co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exercises power in their country.
The embassy complex — 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report — is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified "Green Zone," just east of al-Samoud, a former palace of Saddam Hussein's, and across the road from the building where the ex-dictator is now on trial.
