Wednesday 17th of April 2024
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democracy's palace .....

‘The fortress-like compound
rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the
world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own
defense force, self-contained power & water, & a precarious perch at
the heart of Iraq’s
turbulent future. 

The new U.S. Embassy also seems
as cloaked in secrecy as the mini-state in Rome.

"We can't talk about it.
Security reasons," Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy,
said when asked for information about the project. 

A British tabloid even told
readers the location was being kept secret - news that would surprise Baghdadis
who for months have watched the forest of construction cranes at work across
the winding Tigris, at the very center of their city & within easy mortar
range of anti-US forces in the capital, though fewer explode there these days. 

The embassy complex - 21
buildings on 104 acres, according to a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee
report
- is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified "Green
Zone," just east of al-Samoud, a former palace of Saddam Hussein’s,
& across the road from the building where the ex-dictator is now on trial.’ 

US
Building Massive Embassy In Baghdad 

In spite of white house
denials, Iraq is riven by civil war, its infrastructure destroyed: at best
trying to make do with malfunctioning health, water, sewerage & education
systems, obscene child mortality rates & record levels of unemployment. Having
ravaged the country, including its cultural heritage, the US is refusing to
fund further essential reconstruction, whilst brazenly working with the British
government to expropriate the country’s oil resources. 

This is called building freedom
& democracy, the Amerikan way.

an alien experience .....

‘To most Iraqis, the Green Zone
is another planet. Only one much-bombed entry point admits ordinary Iraqis, who
must endure body searches at each of five checkpoints before being admitted to
one small portion of the zone. 

Though it's now officially called
the International Zone, suggesting a foreign country, those living inside still
refer to the rest of Iraq as "the Red Zone." 

From his Red Zone vantage point,
al-Khiat often looks across the river and wonders about life on the other side.
The 6-square-mile chunk of central Baghdad was carved out for the use of the
U.S. occupation authority in the months following the invasion, setting
off-limits the roads, parks and restaurants that used to be a part of his daily
itinerary.

"I haven't been there in three years," al-Khiat said. "I would
like to go, but I don't dare. Someone might shoot me." 

Giant
US Embassy Project Dismays Iraqis

the ravages of empire .....

‘In an annual security conference on Saturday, Donald
Rumsfeld assured the audience, "We don't intend to occupy [Iraq] for any
period of time. Our troops would like to go home and they will go home. 

Why, then, would the United
States be building an enormous embassy in Baghdad and a base so large it
eclipses Kosovo's Camp Bondsteel, which had been the largest foreign US
military base built since Vietnam? 

The new embassy, which occupies a
space two-thirds the area of the national mall in Washington DC, comprises 21
buildings that will house over 8,000 government officials. It has a huge pool,
gym, theater, beauty salon, school, and six apartment buildings. 

The gargantuan military base,
Camp Anaconda, occupies 15 square miles of Iraqi soil near Balad. The base is
home to 20,000 soldiers and thousands of "contractors," or
mercenaries. The aircraft runway at Anaconda is the second busiest in the
world, behind only Chicago's O'Hare airport. And, depending on which report you
read, between six and fourteen more US military bases are under construction in
Iraq. It doesn't appear we'll be leaving anytime soon - or anytime, really.’ 

Stop The Beast

6,000 more murders

From the BBC

Violent Baghdad deaths top 6,000

The bodies of 6,000 people, most of whom died violently, have been received by Baghdad's main mortuary so far this year, health ministry figures show.
The number has risen every month, to 1,400 in May. The majority are believed to be victims of sectarian killings.
But observers say the real death toll could be much higher.
Meanwhile police said nine severed heads were found near Baquba to the north of Baghdad - days after a similar discovery there.
read more at the BBC
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Gus :
These deaths are the direct result of the the invasion of Iraq by the US, UK and Australia. One has to see that we are responsible for these 6,000 more murders.