E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSIn 2009, NBC's Richard Engel took viewers on a tour of the U.S. embassy compound in Iraq, the biggest, most expensive U.S. embassy ever built.
The United States will "right-size" its Iraq embassy staff, which has grown to nearly 16,000, but contrary to a media report it will not halve its diplomatic presence there, State Department officials told NBC News on Tuesday.
"There is no consideration being given to slashing our diplomats by half," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told NBC News in response to a New York Times report.
A review process, being led by Deputy Secretary Thomas R. Nides, is looking at ways the U.S. can "right-size" its $750 million embassy and how it can shift away from contractors to local Iraqi support staff, Nuland said.
"We're trying to do our best to save the American taxpayer money in the way we support our diplomatic personnel," she said.
The majority of the 16,000 people under the American mission in Iraq are contractors; 1,700 are diplomats.
The New York Times story said that life has become hard for embassy personnel since the military left in December and that food formerly escorted by military escort is often delayed at the Kuwait border as Iraqis demand documentation.
It cited a dwindling salad bar and lack of sugar and Splenda at the cafeteria.
Nuland said she had seen the story and that this was "some whining that was inappropriate ... on the part of the embassy employees, with regard to the quality of the salad bar."
The Times also said that U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey will step down "in the coming weeks." Nuland said Jeffrey is "on a regular diplomatic assignment. It was of a particular duration."
When Jeffrey's tour is completed, President Barack Obama will nominate a new ambassador for Iraq, she said.
"We're not at that stage yet, but this is normal and in keeping with the commitment that he made when he took the job," Nuland said.
The Times said the expansive Baghdad diplomatic buildup was seen as necessary to nurture a post-war Iraq. However, it said, Americans are frustrated by Iraqi obstructionism and are mainly confined to the embassy because of security concerns. The inability to interact with Iraqis makes it tough to justify a $6 billion annual operations cost at the embassy, the Times said.
Michael W. McClellan, the embassy spokesman, said in a statement to the Times, "Over the last year and continuing this year the Department of State and the Embassy in Baghdad have been considering ways to appropriately reduce the size of the U.S. mission in Iraq, primarily by decreasing the number of contractors needed to support the embassy’s operations."
McClellan said the number of diplomats was also "subject to adjustment as appropriate."
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Flag-waving Syrians welcome Russian envoy
- 'Death to Christians': Suspected Jewish extremists deface monastery
- Taliban lite? Afghans ponder power-sharing
- Why do Dickens characters still resonate 200 years on?
Leave a Comment:
This "embassy" is a joke. This debacle was yet another wasteful Bush giveaway to private contractors at taxpayers' expense. On top of all that, it sends a message to the Iraqi people that Americans are gluttons who are just as comfortable building massive golden palaces as Saddam Hussein was. While Iraqi children starve to death on the streets of Baghdad, embassy personnel working for U.S. corporations are living in luxury.
It's an absolute disgrace.
Absolutely agree! When it was being built, I wondered what was going on. No wonder Americans are so unpopular. That being said, where is the need to spend taxpayer monies on Iraqi employees when we didn't need Americans in those positions either? GW Bush has much to answer for, and four years after his departure, that terrible war that took so many American lives and thousands of Iraqis, I will remember which party he represented.
Was going to be needed to support the 14 planned permanent bases....
Good for you! I hope that others do as well
Six Billion dollars! And they don't even want us there! How about a budget of ONE TENTH of that and staff to fit the budget. Hillarity should be wearing that one, not the Shrub.
If you are willing to replace those DOS personnel and have Iraqis guard you, please step up and do your part. When I was there in 2006-2009, Iraqis would sell you for a dollar if the opportunity presented itself. So step up and do your part for the taxpayers and lay your life on the line without American protection and stop complaining.
they could GIVE $100,000 to 60,000 businesses for the cost of running the embassy for ONE year. Multiply this by 100 and you get some idea of the damage the military industrial complex does to our economy each year.
I really don't care who put this thing in place. What is being done right now to correct this monster that costs so much. From what I am seeing and reading nothing is being done.
This is the problem with privatizing wars and using private contractors to do from building housing to securing embassies instead of using Armed Forces personel like was done prior to the Bush admin and the Iraq war.
At least with the Armed Forces there was oversight, now with private contractors there is no oversight form the look of things as evidenced by the various law suits, levied against these private orgs.
No wonder there is very little to show for all the monies spent on these wars.... and for what?
Peace....
Dude seriously? Bush again? He's been gone over three years. The amazing one has been in the white house for over three years. Two of which he had BOTH house and Senate. Now, still he has the Senate. Will he EVER be given any repsonsibility? EVER?
HEY BZe1
Unless you want to lobby the current administration to reinstate the draft and anger the entire nation, please hold your tongue about private contractors.
Also, do your research....private contractors save the government hundreds of thousands of dollars. You see, every enlisted combat soldier deployed requires insurance (TRICARE), oversight (Command and Control), supply, meals, transportation, armaments, entertainment (MWR, DEFAC, PX), logistics, intel, and other misc incidentals. The taxpayer is looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars for every one combat soldier rather then 45k for one contractor (and that is high end.)
So in other words for every 1 solidier in combat, you need 13-20 support staff. How many do you think a private contractor needs? NONE. The company factors the cost into deployment and supplies ALL of these.....please get informed.
16000 contractors. Please break this number down as to how many are haliburton (kbr) related. While America is going hungry makes it tough to justify one penny being spent outside America. However, this is how government redistributes wealth for the worthy. Have any of you seen this building. Do you know how much money was spent on this embassy. The official number is 750 million dollars. 6 billion per year to run this operation. At 50000 per year that would employ 120 thousand teachers.
That's what happens when one invades the wrong country with wrong intentions. You hardly make any friends and you have to live in a fortress. The iraqis dont watch American television to understand what exactly they have received since 1991 and esp after 2003. Their daily life is 100 times miserable than an embassy official whining over Salad and Splenda. So is it any wonder that you need 16000 people to manage this fortress?
I wonder whether that fortress is there to Serve American people or is it there to serve the interests of a select group of corporations and rich people who want to get further rich by exploiting Iraq.
16000 contractors and they can not get the salad right. Geez!!!
The size of this embassy staff is absurd. Keep in mind, this number is in addition to the military security contingent at the embassy. Contrary to what some have stated, the embassy is not being guarded by private contractors, it is still being guarded by the US military, just like our other embassies around the world. I would really like to know why we need 1700 diplomats and 15000 contractors at the embassy. Maybe MSNBC can actually do some reporting and provide a breakdown of what all these people are doing.
@riley - You are smoking something if you think those contractors are costing $45,000 a year. Contractors in Iraq are getting paid top dollar and I would bet that the average cost to the government is over $150,000 per person and possibly even closer to $200,000 for that contractor staff.
I do not know how any of the Obamatons on this site can even attempt to blame this staffing on Bush with a straight face. Please get real and stop drinking the Kool-Aid and parroting nonsense. Bush has been gone for over three years now. The number of people in that embassy are the sole responsibility of the Obama administration and his Secretary of State Hillary.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/07/22/72267/report-big-cuts-needed-at-huge.html
If you would like to fix this then stop whining yourselves and vote for Ron Paul......
@George -935705
It never ceases to amaze me how hypocritical you republiCONS are! You RWNJs want to blame President Obama for anything and everything bad that happens in the whole world, while conveniently forgetting the DISASTER that was the DUH-bya administration. It is actually quite funny that you republiCLOWNS continue to refuse to admit that the last guy your party sent to the White House was a colossal FAILURE. In fact, you almost NEVER hear a reTHUGlican (especially the GOP presidential candidates) mention Bush or his presidency, most likely because you guys KNOW that he is largely responsible for the mess our country is in and are embarrassed of that fact.
I will be the first to admit that President Obama has made mistakes and I do not agree with everything he does or says. However, I am no longer embarrassed of OUR nation's Commander in Chief; in fact, I am extremely proud of OUR President, who has accomplished more in three years than DUH-bya did in eight. President Obama's successes are many, among them: preventing the "Republican Recession" from devolving into a full-blown depression; saving the auto industry from total collapse; passing sweeping health care reform (the Affordable Care Act); regulating the market and banking/financial industries; ending the military's DADT policy; killing Osama bin Laden, Anwar Al-Awlaki, and countless other al Qaeda leaders; ending the war in Iraq; leading ("from behind" LOL) the overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Ghaddafi; sending Seal Team Six to rescue two foreign aid workers held by Somali pirates; and overseeing the slow, but steady, turn around of our economy including 23 months of private sector job growth. While this list is by no means comprehensive, it IS impressive, especially considering that President Obama has largely had to "go it alone" in light of the unprecedented obstruction he has endured every step of the way from House republiCANTS. (Can you imagine how much more OUR President could have accomplished in his first term if McConnell, Boehner, Cantor and the rest of the RWNJs put as much effort into working WITH the president FOR the American people as they have into working AGAINST him and, in effect, US?)
So, in response to your question, "Will he EVER be given any repsonsibility [sic]? EVER?": When will he EVER be given any *credit*? EVER? If DUH-bya had accomplished in TWO terms a FRACTION of what President Obama has in LESS than half that time, I am sure there would be enormous, solid gold statues of Bush & Cheney beneath "Mission Accomplished" banners on every street corner in every town.
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012!
@ olebud3, where is that hope and change???? Feels more like same ol same ol.....
Yeah, Olebud3, that's pretty funny, the way you play around with words. Reminds me of my stupid sister on the playground back when we were 7 years old.
And you're right. O'Bama has accomplished some stuff since he took office. Some agree with what he's done; some think he's spending alot of money he ain't got . . . . comes with a two-party system.
But honestly. He's had 3 YEARS! Isn't that enought time to straighten out a few things? You want change in Iraq? PUT SOME CHANGE IN IRAQ! You're the president! We didn't elect you to hear you make excuses. A poor worker blames his tools.
It's your watch now, Mr President. It's time to stop blaming past regimes, pull up your big boy pants and do the job we elected you to do.
Im not smoking something JS, I am a COTR for a WPS DOS contract and thats exactly how much contractors cost each (per month)...get a clue and get informed if your rebuttal is going to be that uninformed. Mobilizing even a few uniformed soldiers costs even more. Contractors essentially deploy themselves, there is no SPIN UP. Uniformed military would cost hundreds of thousands more. Ive done the cost analysis...I know.
Riley: O.K., so tell us, in absolute dollars, the difference between the cost of "deployed" serviceman and a "non-deployed" service man. Some of the costs you cite are constant, (TRICARE), regardless of status. I've done a few A-76's and I'm curious.....let's use an E-4 with 5 years in service. Show us.
riley you sir are getting cheated than because my cousin makes roughly 200,000/yr for the contract work he does in iraq. Which even he says is a crazy amount of money for the wrk he does.
Riley1759556 you are correct, I have boots on the ground experience at this Embassy for the last 2 1/2 years. There are so many misnomers about this but the bottom line still is we do have to reduce cost somehow, it cannot go on like this forever.
Bush, Cheney, and their neocon buddies should be placed on trial for the colossal stupidity of the war in Iraq. This bloated embassy is a symbol of the idiotic and wasteful policies of former administration.
That many people is wasteful, but why the hell would you want to use local nationals to fill the positions when its way too easy to get a suicide bomber or the like in? It's a question of safety vs. cost.
riley - Maybe if you had said per month instead of comparing to the cost per year for a soldier!!! I seriously doubt the average for those contractors is $45,000/month or $540,000 per year. I have spent most of my career as a contractor, much of it as a project/program manager, so I know what the costs are. For a contractor to be costing the government $540,000/year he would have to be getting paid somewhere between $250,000 and $300,000 a year in salary (wraps rates generally average between 1.8 and 2.2 depending on the company for on-site, i.e working at a gov't facility, employees). That may be true for a very senior level person in Iraq, but it is definitely not what the average embassy support contractor gets paid.
This is a tragedy, no sugar, wilted lettice at the salad bar, i demand to know why all those diplomats cannot have a fresh salad and splenor for their coffee. This, i say, is and outrage. G.W. this is all your fault. I demand a congressional hearing on this matter immediatly. Obama....Obama.....send some Navy Seals with condiments.
shhhh
Now some hollywood kook is going to make a movie based on Frogmen getting the sugar/lettuce to the embassy in time!!! But the catch is they have no home/friends to go home to because the mission/movie pissed everybody off because the community is supposed to stay "Top Secret"!! Now Obama and the platoon of sale-out's are stuck in the Iraqi desert,...AND THE LETTUCE IS willlllting
1,700 diplomats? ah ah.....good one. Yeah, we're all diplomats, hungry diplomats...
please arrange to provide them MRE's only as so many soldiers at our ranches in Afghan have as the evryday diet. Or if they need more, send them the crummy food served every lunch at our grade school which does not have a salad bar.
It cited a dwindling salad bar and lack of sugar and Splenda at the cafeteria.
Feel free to publicly identify these slackers, arrogant lazy twits, and fire them. If they wish to serve our nation, then shut up and remember that too many elderly and children are REAL hungry here at home. We cannot even afford the fresh produce or splenda.
For chrissakes, we just get done spending billions on the construction of a small city for our embassy and now they're downsizing by half. Why not put the entire campus on eBay to cut our losses and call an end to this madness.
Did everyone miss the $6 BILLION annual operating expense? Forget George Dubya who approved that budget?
Vote em all out each and everyone of em. No lifetime politicians either No Obama and No Newt.
I remind you that most would say neither Obama nor Bush were "lifetime politicians". I don't see Joe Blue Collar becoming our president - ever.
So when we give Israel Six Billion Dollars for weapons a year they figure out ways to destabilize a region, influence our elections, and support and defend an area the size of New Jersey with slightly less Jews.
We give the state department the same amount to run an Embassy the size of the Vatican, and they cannot even keep a decent salad bar.
I say let the Jews run the country, they may be more efficient.
Actuality the real number is less than 3 billion. However, under BHO, America now gives 12 billion to countries that would just as soon see us destroyed. In fact, in just 32 months, BHO increased aid to Muslim countries by over 300%!
That is a lie. Congress approves all aid to other countries not the president
Just GTFO now before they throw us out.
I'd like to nominate George W. Bush to be ambassador to Iraq. I'm pretty sure the people of Iraq would have fun with that. I would not miss him either.
And Chenny as his personal assistant!
And YOU as his personal "OFF BASE" driver.
@Eric from NL: And YOU for Dick Cheney's hunting partner.
@Kinjiru: Sure, if that makes you happy :)
Oh! Oh! I want to be the guy that secretly gets high on cocaine with W! Surely he has hookers, too!
What on earth must the Iraqi's think of us.A staff of 1700 people,and all together 16,000 on the payroll.This was obviously planned as the New American Raj.Spreading democracy my a**.Those guys couldn't find democracy in a dictionary.Six billion dollars a year to run it.How many people here and there could be helped with that money.No wonder we are hated so much in the Middle East.But I think the worse part of this story is that the officials talking to the reporter for this story don't even realize what they've done wrong.
Remember that for each staff member needs 13-20 support person, as stated by an earlier poster. LOL
The idea that the Armed Services can no longer provide security for embassies, drivers, mechanics, engineers, carpenters, cooks, etc like they used to do before the Iraq war is bogus. These private contractors are costing far more money than is paid to Armed Services personnel. Look at how much money this country has had to pay out to compensate Iraqi citizens for the loss of their family members due to 'accidents'.
How about the shoddy construction work on housing for the Armed Service personnel i.e. the soldiers for example? Think a military carpenter, electrician, plumber etc would want to electricute their fellow soldier? Would the military tolerate that sort of shoddy work etc by one of their own? How many armed service personel would be allowed to drink alcohol from shot glasses in some ones butt etc ? The Armed services have rule, regulation and a code of conduct that must be followed and they also have oversight.
Perhaps the soldiers should be asked how they feel about having private contractors at their side as they go into battle, or would they perfer to have another military person providing the services that these private contractors supposedly provides and at a higher salary than the military person would cost.
The military are capable of taking care of their own needs imo.
Peace....
Now why on earth would the State Department, which falls under Hillary Clinton, need 16,000 personnel? This is more personnel than a military division. Just last November, Obama was wanting to leave 4,000 military personnel in Iraq. Actually, they would have been sitting ducks. Yet, now we see the BHO Administration spending hundreds of millions to maintain one embassy. Another fine example of Obama having no idea of what a budget is or, even caring. On the bright side here, BHO can't blame the past administration for this one!
Timefor , why blame Clinton? You do realize that that embassy was built before Obama was elected President and Clinton was made Secretary?
Did you read the article where it states that there are only 1700 folks in the diplomatic corp? Therefore the rest are more than likely private contractors etc.
Obama and Clinton did not privatize the Iraq war... nor privatized services that used to be provided by the US Armed Services before then, like embassy security, etc. This was done by the Bush administration.
It ok to blame, but put blame where it is due and try to view a variety of programs including doccumentaries on the Iraq, the war and that embassy and other embassies around the world.
It is pointless to just do the knee jerk reaction of blaming Obama and Clinton for everything just because you may not like him/them or care for his/their politics.
Oh what the hay... whatever
Hey BZe1,
The rest are private contractors because the Iraqis are not trustworthy. They are loyal to their Islamist factions and would gladly kill any diplomatic if their madrassa's Imam thought it pertinent. The diplomats run the roads from one consulate to another in order to meet with Iraqi officials, etc.
In doing so, you need at least a team of 12, with an advance team to preplan the route and check the facility. You also need air support and a counter assault team in case they are ambushed. In saying this, you need roughly 32 people per group of diplomats to ensure their safety. Ambushes are horrific usually IEDs, RPGS and numerous small arms fire....most of which the news doesnt report on.
Unless you are all about reinstating the draft due to shortcomings of military staffing and Obamas proposed cuts please refrain from commenting further.
No Riley. The reason they used private contractors was to alter the budget for fighting this useless conflict and spending trillions in building it up. With no guaranteed oil dividend. Must have been Bush's Masters, the Saudi's that didn't let us get the oil dividend so they could continue to sell their black gold. Also, private contractors were used to pay back ex-military and private military contractors that were big on Bush's election campaign. There is still 7 billion in cash missing from the 25 billion that was shipped to Iraq to pay off tribal leaders and Mullah's. Where do you think that money went? Sent back in duffle bags to wives in North Carolina of people who worked for blackwater and other contractors. There was no oversight at all so they just stole the money. They were not liable because they were not US military personel. Lot a people got rich down there
What are you smoking freedomman...none of what you have stated is even remotely coo-berated anywhere....by anyone.
"If I can't complete my goals in 3 years, I deserve to be a 1 term President."
In November, I'd like to collect on that!
Close the embassy, and sell it to Iraq.
6 billion dollars a year for one embassy?!! 16,000 people??!! That still works out to $375,000 per person! Here's the new plan; 3,000 people max including security, janitors, CIA, diplomats, and feng-shui consultants. Operate on a 750 million dollars annual budget - final offer. No side contracts, no supplemental budgets, no extry people. Then reduce both the staff and budget by 5% per year for the next 6 years. Use the internets to achieve efficiencies. Next problem
The US should just pull out and be done with it. Rather than nurture them, threaten them with a big stick. Here's some basics rules we insist on, follow them or we take out the offenders. Simple and way cheaper.
By rules, I mean anything you are worried about happening if you were to leave now. Like bad guys taking over or whatever. As long as everyone is aware you will send a drone looking for them, they will do as told on their own. Its time to stop kissing their butt. Just tell them: You are on your own, just dont do this, this, and this, or else.
The Times said the expansive Baghdad diplomatic buildup was seen as necessary to nurture a post-war Iraq. However, it said, Americans are frustrated by Iraqi obstructionism and are mainly confined to the embassy because of security concerns. The inability to interact with Iraqis makes it tough to justify a $6 billion annual operations cost at the embassy, the Times said.
How does America nurture a post war Iraq. Spend money and interfere That is why they love us. Starvation sounds good.
$6 BILLION. Pay Bekins $60,000 to cart out anything of value and then shut the doors. This is obscene, and it is on Obama's watch. Take that money and bring all of it home to put people back to work or build bridges here. Are we totally nuts, or what? Somebody posting here said we need 3000 people. We don't need 30. What we do need is a government that can cut out any unnecessary expense, and an embassy in Iraq is at the top of the cut list. My God, we must have an embassy in Iceland that costs $2 Billion - look into that and if so, cut it, too.
They've been working on cutting many embassy's
2 of my sisters and a Brother in-law build embassies around the world. They are not cutting them, they have some huge embassies coming up. They are not talked about much but very expensive. It is making some in my family pretty damn wealthy. They'll retire much sooner than most.
Yes Crazson, the State Department is planning on building a new US embassy in London for one Billion US dollars. Yes, One Billion dollars.
64 billion for drones. 6 billion for this project. Were rich. Plus money for aide to all these countries, What are we complaining about. We have money to burn. The bank of China just loves us as well.
No problem if we run short we just raise the retirement age and lower the welfare cheques
And don't apply for a job in the salt mines that is bad for the blood pressue
Money Trees & from under Rainbows,,, That's how conservatives are going to get their money for all the Fairy Dust & Fantasy policies
I still recommend you borrow Ron Paul's economics text book,, He quit reading it half way trough & is back to his idiotic Gold & Silver Standard again
And all these clowns will get "danger pay" bonuses...etc., etc......
If the Iraqis dont have enough self-respect and national pride, they deserve to become flunkies of Iran with the help of Sadr and his Iranian 5thColumn...
A perfect example of our STUPID Government and their greedy contractors.
Bush/Cheney's Bagdad palace is another boondoggle this country can't afford. Minimize it and bring the contractors home. And we're hung up on salad in the desert? What a mistake, like the invasion of Iraq itself. One very foolish idea.
Both Bush AND Cheney should be brought up on war crimes.
You are correct, sir! I couldn't have said it better. Remember how unpatriotic it was to criticize Bush back when he started this mess? How many are still "standing with President George W. Bush" now? I hear crickets chirping...
Spot on.
When we were hit on 9/11, the masses demanded he begin the war on terror. He did and did a great job of saying enough is enough. Now the traitors want to talk about war crimes. No crickets here pal. Obama said if he couldn't get things under control in 3 years, he deserves to be a 1 term President. I'll collect on that in November. He spends but on what? Certainly not on American infrastructure. $53.3 Billion for 2012 foreign aid which is $5 billion increase. What a joke.It's no longer in the hands of Bush. When will Obama and libtards quit blaming everyone else and take some responsibility?
Don't forget, folks, we're going to have a permanent military presence in the region, in accordance with the policy of our current President, Barack Obama.
sailor,
right now we have built up the afghan effort to try and create unity there. We forgot that differences of opinion and beliefs occur everywhere, everyday. Even here, the 1950's veterans from Korea, the Viet Nam vets and the younger from Iraq and Afghan all say no to our Iran invasion. While every day we are propagandized to go on in and demolish the persian peoples.
We may also have been suckered in by pentagon (Gates & Petraeus & embedded neo-cons) to replace the German bases we finally turned over. Army 4 stars need some reason for being.
Besides the obvious, one thing I'm trying to figure out is why somebody who studies to be in the foreign service... and ostensibly wants to live/work in a foreign country... is completely unwilling to eat local foods while there. I was the world's fussiest eater in America, not trying many foods until in my 30's. However, I love international travel, particular to developing countries, and learned to eat and appreciate what was on my plate. I ate black beans & rice three times a day while living in Costa Rica, powdered manioc in Brazil, Yorkshire pudding in the UK, and now--living in Istanbul--have learned to eat stuffed grape leaves and stuffed eggplant. Why on earth do we need to ship sugar and Splenda to Iraq when there are undoubtedly tons of delicious and nutritious local foods to eat? And I'm pretty sure finding sugar in Iraq itself is no problem. It's hardly a rare luxury item that needs to be shipped in special just for embassy staff.
I live now in Istanbul, which borders Iraq. Many of my American friends are surprised to learn that every few hundred yards here, there are McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Popeye's, Arby's, Sbarro, Quiznos, Cinnabon, Starbucks, etc. The malls here have Claire's Boutique and other American mall fixtures. I'm sure Iraq is similar.
BTW, don't believe what you see on TV. The U.S. government has a vested interest in having people view only poverty in foreign countries... and it's also not as "interesting" to see foreign people eating at Arby's and hanging out at a modern mall. When American TV comes to Turkey to film, it's always head-scarved village women with a goat... while in real life, Istanbul is 15 million people with cell phones, all dressed better than most New Yorkers, with auto-flush toilets and programmable refrigerators, and 90% of women not wearing anything on their heads. Based on what I saw in the U.S., I was expecting people on camels...
Knowing this, the embassy's "having to import sugar from abroad" is obviously revealed as another scheme to put money in the pockets of GOP cronies.
Presto-changeo ~ troops are all in the embassy staff. What a load of crap.
Wow, $750 million George W. was really generous with our money, I second the motion to appoint George W. ambassador to Iraq and if that doesn't work select Cheney.
The USA is around 300 years old or so,yet we have to feed and protect countries that are 1000nds of years old.are this people brain dead? Hey Iraq we want our 712 billion dollars,Bush Blowed over there.You can have Bush.
American contractors ? I assumed ( incorrectly I reckon ) that contracts are awarded through an impartial bidding process such as small home repair and commercial building contractors must submit to gain job opportunities . Our old friends from Dick Cheney's Haliburton tenure have supplied services ranging from armed escorts to daily meals without any need to bid or budgetary oversights . Bill the government $1,000,000 for a service or construction project , sub it out to an Iraqi firm for $100,000 ( of which $80,000 is siphoned off into bribes ) and then deny any responsibility for the poor services or shoddy construction .
Capitalism at it's finest , paid for by the blood of American service personell to bestow democracy on people who don't desire this kind of freedom .They've already enjoyed this type of benevolence from their former dictator .A bustling trade in the fast food culture seems to be the only result .