The Washington Times has an interesting
article on the US Embassy in Iraq. With that information and information from
Wikipedia, we have the following picture of the embassy:
It is the largest and most expensive diplomatic post in the world.
It is often dubbed by news reports as “The Fortress” and is America’s largest overseas diplomatic post.
It cost roughly three-quarters of a billion dollars to build during the late 2000s.
It employs 15,000 people.
Operating cost is approximately $2 billion per year.
Private contractors involved in its operation have contracts totaling $5 billion.
I have a simple question. Why?
In spite of its favorable historical reputation as the cradle of civilization, Iraq is now a third world country.
We are spent billions of dollars in ousting Saddam Hussein and satisfying our desire for nation building, but what kind of nation have we built? The people are engaged in a civil war and both sides want us out of their country.
The purpose of embassies and consulates in foreign countries is intended to facilitate continuing good relations. We have no good relations in Iraq. Americans employed there are subject to the danger of being maimed or killed, and there seems no justification as to why the US government should continue to run this operation.
As indicated above, the operating cost continues at a time when we are making every effort to conserve our resources. Does it make sense that some government employees in essential jobs are on nonpaid furlough while we continue to dump money into a completely wasteful embassy situation.
Iraq has only a small amount of oil with respect to the world market, and we have decided earlier, presumably for worldwide political reasons, that we will have no interest in their oil. The country has nothing else to offer the US other than a grand headache. If Iran wants to take it over, or if Russia or Turkey have designs on it, that has no bearing on us.
I strongly suggest we shutdown the US Embassy in Baghdad, as being a wasteful expense. For trade possibilities and other general relations with Middle Eastern partners, we have Jordan and Israel. If Iran, Syria, and Iraq get their houses in order and want to have good relations with the United States, there may be justification for US embassies and consulates in their countries. Otherwise we should consider them as insignificant to our continued economic development.
It is the largest and most expensive diplomatic post in the world.
It is often dubbed by news reports as “The Fortress” and is America’s largest overseas diplomatic post.
It cost roughly three-quarters of a billion dollars to build during the late 2000s.
It employs 15,000 people.
Operating cost is approximately $2 billion per year.
Private contractors involved in its operation have contracts totaling $5 billion.
I have a simple question. Why?
In spite of its favorable historical reputation as the cradle of civilization, Iraq is now a third world country.
We are spent billions of dollars in ousting Saddam Hussein and satisfying our desire for nation building, but what kind of nation have we built? The people are engaged in a civil war and both sides want us out of their country.
The purpose of embassies and consulates in foreign countries is intended to facilitate continuing good relations. We have no good relations in Iraq. Americans employed there are subject to the danger of being maimed or killed, and there seems no justification as to why the US government should continue to run this operation.
As indicated above, the operating cost continues at a time when we are making every effort to conserve our resources. Does it make sense that some government employees in essential jobs are on nonpaid furlough while we continue to dump money into a completely wasteful embassy situation.
Iraq has only a small amount of oil with respect to the world market, and we have decided earlier, presumably for worldwide political reasons, that we will have no interest in their oil. The country has nothing else to offer the US other than a grand headache. If Iran wants to take it over, or if Russia or Turkey have designs on it, that has no bearing on us.
I strongly suggest we shutdown the US Embassy in Baghdad, as being a wasteful expense. For trade possibilities and other general relations with Middle Eastern partners, we have Jordan and Israel. If Iran, Syria, and Iraq get their houses in order and want to have good relations with the United States, there may be justification for US embassies and consulates in their countries. Otherwise we should consider them as insignificant to our continued economic development.
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