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US opens a $592 million, 104-acre Embassy in Baghdad

According to the Christian Science Monitor, the embassy is supposed to be one of the largest in the world and it is meant to symbolize America's long term commitment to Iraq.

Sure, $592 million is peanuts compared to the nearly $1 trillion the Iraq War has cost so far, but it is a bad investment and a waste of money for many reasons.

For one, the U.S. remains largely hated in Iraq despite whatever progress has been made lately. Such a grandiose symbol of the much-maligned America will only exacerbate and fuel the anger and anti-American sentiment that exists there. It is quite inconceivable that the Iraqis will warm up to the U.S. anytime soon.

Secondly, building such an expensive structure in a country where suicide bombings are a daily occurance and their scale/destruction is massive is a waste of money. I would not be surprised if the new embassy is a subject of a major terrorist attack.

To prevent a terrorist attack, the U.S. would have to spend lots of military resources just to secure the embassy. Is that a worthwhile investment of American resources?

Perhaps the U.S. expects to have a large non-combat presence in Iraq and needs the large embassy space for that purpose. I would personally suggest that the U.S. keep a low profile and give the Iraqis a sense that they are running their country on their own.

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