Screw the locals, we’re building a city in a city — for us!
In the chaos of Iraq, one project is on target: a giant US embassy-News-World-Iraq-TimesOnline — This is a real eye-roller and seeing some of the recent embassies we’ve done (such as the one in Stockholm) should also be a real eye-sore too. Hey taxpayers, how are you doing?
Oh, and why hasn’t the big media been covering this story? The thing appears to be half finished already. Shhh, it’s a secret.
THE question puzzles and enrages a city: how is it that the Americans cannot keep the electricity running in Baghdad for more than a couple of hours a day, yet still manage to build themselves the biggest embassy on Earth?
Irritation grows as residents deprived of air-conditioning and running water three years after the US-led invasion watch the massive US Embassy they call “George W’s palace” rising from the banks of the Tigris.
In the pavement cafés, people moan that the structure is bigger than anything Saddam Hussein built. They are not impressed by the architects’ claims that the diplomatic outpost will be visible from space and cover an area that is larger than the Vatican city and big enough to accommodate four Millennium Domes. They are more interested in knowing whether the US State Department paid for the prime real estate or simply took it.
While families in the capital suffer electricity cuts, queue all day to fuel their cars and wait for water pipes to be connected, the US mission due to open in June next year will have its own power and water plants to cater for a population the size of a small town.
found by Mister Justin
So take care of America first, and than the rest of the world?
#34. who says we gotta take care of the rest of the world?
history
#36. we can protect ourselves quite well with a bit of focused force and without taking on quixotic tasks to “reform” a world that does not want it and certainly does not trust it coming from us.
Focused force? Like launching cruise missiles into Afghanistan during the 1990’s after every major terrorist attack on U.S. targets, alá Clinton kind of focused force? I don’t really think that got us too far. Overthrowing the Taliban…sounds like “reform,” a reform that upset Mullah Omar but at the same time has committed the world towards helping and re-building a war torn country.
#39. No. Overthrowing the Taliban was focused force – we crushed the terrorists who had actually attacked us and deprived them of their base. Invading Iraq to try to export democracy at gunpoint is unfocused force. We created a new base for those terrorists.
I have noticed that the war supporters try to create a false dichotomy. Anyone who wants to simply target the terrorists rather than remake the world in our own image is characterized as supporting the old ‘cruise missile’ tactics.
Oh and note the ‘reform’ of Afghanistan is going just swimmingly. The poppy barons are back and the Taliban has regrouped.
There’s that lack of focus again. If Afghanistan was getting more than a small percentage of the attention we have lavished on Iraq, perhaps things would be going better.
Sounds like The execs at Halliburton want more money.
Doug you touch on a lot of points & I’ll just pick a few as I got to write a research paper.
The notion of U.S. “exporting democracy at gun” point is ridiculous. The general population left their house, at will, to vote for a constitution and a government that is representative of themselves and their beliefs. Who would have thought that the Japanese would have taken to democracy after WWII, but sure enough they did and continue to be one of the greatest democracies in East Asia. If this “exportation” of democracy can only occur after a mass conflict, than the world is in a lot of trouble because conflict in the 21st century will be based around the premise of removing a despotic regime and establishing a representative democracy.
Afghanistan is not only an American problem, it is a N.A.T.O. problem. NATO continues to adapt to the challenges they are facing, and will continue to, when it comes to the Taliban. I continue to thank the Canadian public for supporting the effort and picking up after the lack luster commitments of the Germans, French, Italians, and Spanish (Here’s a analysis of it http://tinyurl.com/254f3b). And I give props to Romania for getting into the mix.
Let me be frank, the Taliban got their asses kicked over the past 6 months and I’m not holding out much hope for the spring “offensive.” That aside, some local tribal leaders in the Pashtun regions are waiting to see what will happen and are placing their bets accordingly. This act of fence sitting is nothing new as it has been a time honored custom of Afghani tribalism. But one thing that the majority of the Afghanis do not want, is a return of the Taliban, and their methods of terror. The organization’s bombing and threating of modern schools is not popular, nor is the introduction of Arab-esk suicide bombers.
Also, it is important to note how other tribal leaders, or their replacements, are dealing with the situation, the allies: Dostum, Fahim, the late Haq, my man Karzi, Khan, the late, great Ahmed Shah Masud, Mazari, & Shirzai is like a Afghani Ferengi. The foes: Omar, Hekmatyar, Dadullah. Now that’s a rough estimate but the allies outnumber the foes, it is just that the foes get more press than the allies. — This is all from the http://www.warlordsofafghanistan.com and other sources, but that site is nice as they sell a coaster set of each tribal leader…makes a great Valentine’s Day gift.
The poppy production has a short-term solution…have the U.S. buy it for medical morphine. A long-term solution of replacing the poppy with fruit trees, and traditional substance agriculture, which was grown heavily prior to the USSR invasion.
Sorry for the post-length but I enjoy Afghani politics.
#42. By “exporting democracy at gun-point” I meant that WE, rather than the Iraqi people, overthrew the Iraqi dictatorship. They are treating it like a present that they did not ask for. The Sunnis boycotted the constitutional elections, only do demand a share of the pie afterward.
And the Shiites, they turned out in droves to vote, but for sectarian candidates who have governed in the interests of their sect, rather than as Iraqis.
And I have to complain that the comparison with Japan is facile – the Japanese had parliamentary government for decades prior to WW2. It was in tatters at the time WW2 started, but the tradition was there.
On Afghanistan, I would whole-heartedly agree that the US could rather easily afford to buy up the entire Afghan poppy crop for medical morphine. If we did not have such a hysteria about such things.
this is some good stuff here – but what i wanna know is when will we make iraq a state/territory? It’d make a great addition to the abortion that is America