By- Suzie-Q @ 5:34 PM MST
WASHINGTON — A mortar shell smashed into the hulking new U.S. Embassy that’s under construction in Baghdad last May, damaging a wall and causing minor injuries to people inside the building. It also exposed enormous problems in the management of what’s become a $592 million government construction project.
The State Department contractor in charge of the project, James L. Golden, attempted to alter the scene of the blast, according to government officials familiar with the incident. The State Department inspector general prevented Department officials from investigating the incident, according to interviews and documents.
A congressional committee is examining whether the walls of the still-unfinished embassy complex, which are supposed to be blast-resistant, performed as they should have during the mortar attack.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker banished Golden from Iraq, but he continues to oversee the construction of the embassy in Baghdad; to be the liaison with the contractor, Kuwait-based First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co.; and to supervise other projects for the State Department’s Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) bureau.
The embassy — actually a 104-acre, Vatican-size compound of 21 buildings meant to house and sleep about 1,000 U.S. officials was originally meant to open in June, then in September. Now, due to problems with the sprinkler system, the latest in a series of deficiencies blamed on First Kuwaiti, it remains unclear whether it will be ready for occupancy this year. Golden didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.
Suzie-Que's Truth and Justice Blog 
So, it’s just a $592 million dollar empty building? Is the delay in occupancy because it isn’t safe there? No, that couldn’t be it because McCain said it was safe in Baghdad…
The whole Iraq fiasco is such a waste…
Yes girl … a total waste of everything HOWEVER it appears that Congress has basically given up and is letting Bush/Cheney run rampant to ensure a landslide victory for the Dems in 2008.
While I hope it happens, I wonder how many people will die for this political move.
This “embassy” is simply Cheney’s fortified castle in the middle of Baghdad – I hear they are having difficulty recruiting people to work there (has anyone checked Regent Univ 2007 Class? I’m SURE they all need jobs!) …. because evidently is isn’t actually SAFE to work in a fortress in Baghdad’s Green Zone.
Just more blood and money wasted.
Hi Basheert!
Yes, more blood and money wasted… and it’s Bush & Cheney’s war!
Yep…This is the “Endless embassy for the “Endless war…
OK, so we’re supposedly planning to leave Iraq someday, or “stand down when they stand up” or whatever they’re calling it. And at the same time the U.S. is building the world’s largest embassy in Iraq. OK, sure, that makes sense.