Most U.S. embassies around the world are relatively modest facilities, often housed in elegant old buildings that provide an atmosphere of decorum and dignity. In many places around the world, nations house their diplomats in non-descript buildings, often identified only by a small brass plaque on the gate surrounding the complex. Flash and glitz generally are not part of the architectural design for facilities which house diplomatic conclaves.
In 2007, an affiliate of the Halliburton Corporation completed construction of a 104-acre complex in the center of Baghdad that included over 600 apartments, movie theaters, food courts, shops, auto repair facilities, restaurants and night clubs. Within plain view of the new Iraqi government's headquarters, this magnificent structure had been built with very little notice or fanfare from the U.S. media; most American taxpayers were unaware that they had just paid hundreds of millions of dollars to build the largest embassy in the world - the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq. For a government that claimed it would eventually leave Iraq once that tiny new democracy could manage on its own, the construction of this permanent compound confounded many of those who knew about it. Iraqis, of course, viewed it as nothing more than "Big Brother" maintaining a constant presence in their country for generations to come. It was obvious that the Bush administration quietly decided that permanent occupation of Iraq was necessary. The U.S. investment in this building was an extravagant reminder to all Iraqis as to who was really in charge.
On January 17, 2008, 533 members of the United States Congress had been killed when the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization effectively demolished the Capitol Building at the start of the President's State of the Union address. Senator John McCain was one of the survivors, having been called away on a personal emergency at the last minute. The other surviving member of Congress was an up-and-coming young man who had made waves two years earlier when he tried to force the United States to recognize the atrocities being committed within the Sudan. His name was Barack Obama.
The Bush administration paid scant attention to the Sudan. Yes, it was an 'evil empire' ruled by a despot who murdered, maimed, misplaced, and raped millions of his own countrymen. But the Sudan had relatively little oil, and it was already contractually committed elsewhere; since there was marginal gain for the United States' interests, Bush and Cheney ignored the plight of a desperate people. Obama had made in-roads, but the Bush administration, in collusion with a corrupt and incompetent U.S. Congress, casually committed to no action other than a few MilqueToast pronouncements. In fact, for the past two years of the Bush presidency, nothing of any substance was accomplished. Press releases were chunred out by the dozens, fed to a lethargic and uninterested media, which dutifully read them on the air or published them, verbatim, in the newspapers they owned. Maintaining 38% profit margins was more important than providing American citizens with accurate, well-documented, honest, well-investigated, newsworthy information about what the sinister government was doing.
Obama had opposed the Bush administration's military entry into Iran, rightfully claiming it was because the U.S. wanted Iran's rich, easily-accessible oil fields. The Bush administration countered by claiming it was all about the "war on terror", and - as any third-rate salesman knows - you can sell anything by creating an element of doubt or fear. In fact, that's all the Bush administration seemed to do anymore: it continually sent the same message about how much safer America was today (but it still wasn't completely safe). Such fear played right into the hands of the corporate greedmeisters who chuckled at how such a dim-witted President could help them reap such enormous profits for such relatively little effort. One corporate executive publicly laughed about how "government waste is great for my stockholders. We build something, screw it up, tear it down, and rebuild it, all at the taxpayers' expense! George Bush is the greatest gift corporate America has ever received!"
Obama had vigorously crusaded against such corporate fraud, government waste, and inattention to all the other tragedies in the world. He was clearly a thorn in the side of the Bush administration, and there had been unconfirmed reports that there was a Bush-sponsored movement underway to discredit the young black senator from Illinois. The less taxpayers knew about the real cost of the wars in Iraq and Iran, the better the Bush administration liked it. The less press given to 'hot spots' around the world like the Sudan, Lebanon, South Africa, and other "unimportant" regions, the less attention was taken away from the Bush-Cheney causes for combatting the "war on terrorism". The Nazi-inspired Department of Homeland Security had been another of Obama's targets, and that riled George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld to no end. Rumsfeld began writing columns for publication on newspapers' op-ed pages, defending the wars in Iraq and Iran. Bush was sent out in the field to spread his gospel of paranoia and lies: the true enemy was all those Muslim fascists (a term which alienated many Muslims in the United States and around the world). Cheney, of course, remained in the background, quietly content to simply help count all of the billions of dollars flowing into the coffers of his favorite corporations. Now it was Obama's time in the limelight. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had been holding quiet talks with him throughout the winter and into the spring. Like Powell and McCain, he had been a tough convert to the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. agenda. In fact, he had perhaps been the toughest convert of the three. While Colin Powell and John McCain saw the need for some structure, even from an outlaw group like O.U.T.R.A.G.E., Barack Obama had adamantly criticized the events of January 17. Now, after a devastating hurricane and a killer earthquake had damaged the U.S.A. even further, he had finally agreed to join forces with the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization and started appearing on television broadcasts from St. Kitts at regular intervals.
It was Obama that first reported to the American people on how the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was only a year old, and was already beginning to deteriorate because of faulty construction and sub-standard materials used in its construction. The sprawling new complex was literally falling down around the 8,000 people who worked within its crumbling walls. Even the 15-foot walls surrounding the compound (apparently to protect from 'terrorists'), guarded by U.S. Marines, were beginning to crack. The internal air-conditioning system malfunctioned whenever the temperatures reached into the 100's. The in-house electricity plant worked sporadically. There were some people already privately calling for the entire compound to be torn down before it collapsed and killed thousands of employees and visitors to th embassy.
It was reminiscent of the days during the Nixon administration when the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. both built new embassies in their respective countries. The U.S.S.R. was given some of the highest ground in Washington, DC, making it easy for them to install listening devices for clearer counter-intelligence (in fact, years later, the building was torn down because of all the spy equipment secretly installed within its walls). The U.S., on the other hand, had negotiated for a desolate plot of land on the outskirts of Moscow where its embassy sat almost in a reclusive area, inaccessible to most visitors. It had been one of the most flagrant examples of the U.S.A.'s inability to negotiate properly.
There was clearly a role for Obama's talents - perhaps as a "whistle blower" for all of these inane circumstances: the "wars" in Iraq and Iran; the U.S. neglect of other troubled areas around the world; the coziness of the federal government with the media and the world of big business. As he gained notoriety from O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members in the field, and from the general public, he was also becoming a close ally to Powell and McCain. They needed his leadership as part of their team. They also needed a man of his caliber and integrity; someone who would put the interests of the nation ahead of his self-interests.
In 2007, an affiliate of the Halliburton Corporation completed construction of a 104-acre complex in the center of Baghdad that included over 600 apartments, movie theaters, food courts, shops, auto repair facilities, restaurants and night clubs. Within plain view of the new Iraqi government's headquarters, this magnificent structure had been built with very little notice or fanfare from the U.S. media; most American taxpayers were unaware that they had just paid hundreds of millions of dollars to build the largest embassy in the world - the new U.S. Embassy in Iraq. For a government that claimed it would eventually leave Iraq once that tiny new democracy could manage on its own, the construction of this permanent compound confounded many of those who knew about it. Iraqis, of course, viewed it as nothing more than "Big Brother" maintaining a constant presence in their country for generations to come. It was obvious that the Bush administration quietly decided that permanent occupation of Iraq was necessary. The U.S. investment in this building was an extravagant reminder to all Iraqis as to who was really in charge.
On January 17, 2008, 533 members of the United States Congress had been killed when the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization effectively demolished the Capitol Building at the start of the President's State of the Union address. Senator John McCain was one of the survivors, having been called away on a personal emergency at the last minute. The other surviving member of Congress was an up-and-coming young man who had made waves two years earlier when he tried to force the United States to recognize the atrocities being committed within the Sudan. His name was Barack Obama.
The Bush administration paid scant attention to the Sudan. Yes, it was an 'evil empire' ruled by a despot who murdered, maimed, misplaced, and raped millions of his own countrymen. But the Sudan had relatively little oil, and it was already contractually committed elsewhere; since there was marginal gain for the United States' interests, Bush and Cheney ignored the plight of a desperate people. Obama had made in-roads, but the Bush administration, in collusion with a corrupt and incompetent U.S. Congress, casually committed to no action other than a few MilqueToast pronouncements. In fact, for the past two years of the Bush presidency, nothing of any substance was accomplished. Press releases were chunred out by the dozens, fed to a lethargic and uninterested media, which dutifully read them on the air or published them, verbatim, in the newspapers they owned. Maintaining 38% profit margins was more important than providing American citizens with accurate, well-documented, honest, well-investigated, newsworthy information about what the sinister government was doing.
Obama had opposed the Bush administration's military entry into Iran, rightfully claiming it was because the U.S. wanted Iran's rich, easily-accessible oil fields. The Bush administration countered by claiming it was all about the "war on terror", and - as any third-rate salesman knows - you can sell anything by creating an element of doubt or fear. In fact, that's all the Bush administration seemed to do anymore: it continually sent the same message about how much safer America was today (but it still wasn't completely safe). Such fear played right into the hands of the corporate greedmeisters who chuckled at how such a dim-witted President could help them reap such enormous profits for such relatively little effort. One corporate executive publicly laughed about how "government waste is great for my stockholders. We build something, screw it up, tear it down, and rebuild it, all at the taxpayers' expense! George Bush is the greatest gift corporate America has ever received!"
Obama had vigorously crusaded against such corporate fraud, government waste, and inattention to all the other tragedies in the world. He was clearly a thorn in the side of the Bush administration, and there had been unconfirmed reports that there was a Bush-sponsored movement underway to discredit the young black senator from Illinois. The less taxpayers knew about the real cost of the wars in Iraq and Iran, the better the Bush administration liked it. The less press given to 'hot spots' around the world like the Sudan, Lebanon, South Africa, and other "unimportant" regions, the less attention was taken away from the Bush-Cheney causes for combatting the "war on terrorism". The Nazi-inspired Department of Homeland Security had been another of Obama's targets, and that riled George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld to no end. Rumsfeld began writing columns for publication on newspapers' op-ed pages, defending the wars in Iraq and Iran. Bush was sent out in the field to spread his gospel of paranoia and lies: the true enemy was all those Muslim fascists (a term which alienated many Muslims in the United States and around the world). Cheney, of course, remained in the background, quietly content to simply help count all of the billions of dollars flowing into the coffers of his favorite corporations. Now it was Obama's time in the limelight. O.U.T.R.A.G.E. had been holding quiet talks with him throughout the winter and into the spring. Like Powell and McCain, he had been a tough convert to the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. agenda. In fact, he had perhaps been the toughest convert of the three. While Colin Powell and John McCain saw the need for some structure, even from an outlaw group like O.U.T.R.A.G.E., Barack Obama had adamantly criticized the events of January 17. Now, after a devastating hurricane and a killer earthquake had damaged the U.S.A. even further, he had finally agreed to join forces with the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. organization and started appearing on television broadcasts from St. Kitts at regular intervals.
It was Obama that first reported to the American people on how the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was only a year old, and was already beginning to deteriorate because of faulty construction and sub-standard materials used in its construction. The sprawling new complex was literally falling down around the 8,000 people who worked within its crumbling walls. Even the 15-foot walls surrounding the compound (apparently to protect from 'terrorists'), guarded by U.S. Marines, were beginning to crack. The internal air-conditioning system malfunctioned whenever the temperatures reached into the 100's. The in-house electricity plant worked sporadically. There were some people already privately calling for the entire compound to be torn down before it collapsed and killed thousands of employees and visitors to th embassy.
It was reminiscent of the days during the Nixon administration when the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. both built new embassies in their respective countries. The U.S.S.R. was given some of the highest ground in Washington, DC, making it easy for them to install listening devices for clearer counter-intelligence (in fact, years later, the building was torn down because of all the spy equipment secretly installed within its walls). The U.S., on the other hand, had negotiated for a desolate plot of land on the outskirts of Moscow where its embassy sat almost in a reclusive area, inaccessible to most visitors. It had been one of the most flagrant examples of the U.S.A.'s inability to negotiate properly.
There was clearly a role for Obama's talents - perhaps as a "whistle blower" for all of these inane circumstances: the "wars" in Iraq and Iran; the U.S. neglect of other troubled areas around the world; the coziness of the federal government with the media and the world of big business. As he gained notoriety from O.U.T.R.A.G.E. members in the field, and from the general public, he was also becoming a close ally to Powell and McCain. They needed his leadership as part of their team. They also needed a man of his caliber and integrity; someone who would put the interests of the nation ahead of his self-interests.
posted by Bushwacker! at 5:57 AM
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