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It is probably not that surprising that the Americans have woken up to the fact that spending $6 billion a year on the embassy in Iraq with 16,000 employees - many of whom are contractors - is a little bit excessive.

NYT reports that the staff numbers are being halved.

I had to chuckle at the description of some of the 'hardships' that the embassy staff were facing. The report says that they are largely confined to the embassy (more like a village complex given it is over 100 acres) and faced some logistical problems getting food in.

What caught my eye was this:

Within days, the salad bar at the embassy dining hall ran low. Sometimes there was no sugar or Splenda for coffee. On chicken-wing night, wings were rationed at six per person.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/world ... s&emc=tha2

Hardship is obviously something that is relative.

There are some more 'serious' points in the article - but I thought I'd share this piece of light-hearted reporting.

Cheers,
Shafique

Anyone could tell me why America needs a village rather than a reasonable size embassy building?

Berrin wrote:Anyone could tell me why America needs a village rather than a reasonable size embassy building?

I don't know man, also in The Hague the US embassy in huge, with full of security, like a secure perimiter of 50 meters in the inner city, a secure circle, which is annoying, because some streets are half closed because of it.

American embassies need to be built like fortresses. We have endeared outselves to soooooooooooo many countries.

The food hardship is funny. It reminds me of the OWS protesters NYC who were dishing up gourmet meals and then realized that they actually feeding alot of homeless people who showed just to eat.

Berrin wrote:Anyone could tell me why America needs a village rather than a reasonable size embassy building?

Well, for one thing the contractors building the 100 acre complex made a lot of money, and the majority on it are contractors the article states.



Also, the article said this:

Expressing a common sentiment among Iraqis, she added: "The U.S. had something on their mind when they made it so big. Perhaps they want to run the Middle East from Iraq, and their embassy will be a base for them here."

Those suspicions have been reinforced by two murky episodes, one involving four armed Americans on the streets of Baghdad that Iraqi officials believe were Central Intelligence Agency operatives and another when an American helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing because of an unspecified mechanical failure on the outskirts of the capital on the banks of the Tigris River.

Who knows?

Bora - about the OWS catering services.



Cheers,

Shafique

well "cowards" need protection whereas "brave ones" walk freely!!