US Inaugurates New Baghdad Embassy

By Cernig

The new US embassy in Iraq is a fitting symbol of Dubya's legacy. It's a $700 million white elephant built with corruption, graft and dodgy construction practises. Heavily fortified to show "how much Iraq has changed" (TM), it's ten times larger than any other American embassy in the world and six times larger than the UN complex in New York - fitting the lack of attention Bush aid to the rest of the world throughout the last eight years. It will persist as a massive reminder of an illegal invasion and occupation, even once that occupation is relabelled as a training mission.

Explaining the opening of such a large embassy three years before the U.S. must finish withdrawing its 146,000 troops from Iraq, Crocker told The Associated Press that it is vital for the U.S. to remain involved in nonmilitary ways.

"I think we have seen a tremendous amount of progress," Crocker said before the ceremony, "but the development of this new Iraq is going to be a very long time in the making, and we need to be engaged here."

And to add Iraqi insult to injury, prime minister Maliki couldn't be at the official opening - he was in Iran with his real friends