or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 29, 2007
What Will The Swimming Pool At Our Gigantic New Iraq Embassy Look Like?
Tom Engelhardt has done something no one else has: track down the architects who are building our $600 million new "embassy" in Baghdad. Not only do they have a website, they've put up their sketches of what it's going to look like.
For more details, see the article: "The Colossus of Baghdad: Wonders of the Imperial World"
Posted at May 29, 2007 10:51 AM | TrackBackBut where are the hanging gardens?
Posted by: Anderson at May 29, 2007 11:55 AMYes, I can envision Al-Sadr's fat ignorant ass floating in it now. Why is our Presidential bonehead not being impeached.
Posted by: liberal white boy at May 29, 2007 12:03 PMIt's beautiful! How long after completion before the "community center" gets hit by mortars? Hours? Minutes?
Posted by: dbutz at May 29, 2007 12:17 PMAnderson beat me to it.
Posted by: Bob In Pacifica at May 29, 2007 12:21 PMLet's hope they don't forget the helipads on the roofs...
Didn't they copy that (design) from Speer?
What's the matter, don't you think our Embassy staff deserves a nice place to be held hostage, circa 2010?
I'm seriously wondering about your Americanism, Jon.
Posted by: Mike of Angle at May 29, 2007 01:57 PMPlease remind me: how big was the U.S. embassy in Tehran?
Now it's some sort of "Museum of American Imperialism", where they display all the painstakingly reconstructed shredded CIA documents.
I suppose the Iranians have similar plans for this one.
Posted by: SteveB at May 29, 2007 04:49 PMI often wonder if a nation wide vote would show whether the majority of the country was for or against this imperialism.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at May 29, 2007 06:22 PMBut of course it has to be this big because this is where we're hiding our WMDs, people.
Posted by: Aunt Deb at May 29, 2007 08:20 PMI loved the bit about the guy who misses his yogurt and melon in the morning. Jesus. At any rate that is a great column by Engelhardt, one of the best things I have read lately. Well I do hope they enjoy their swimming pool and tennis court, really amazing stuff.
Posted by: rob payne at May 30, 2007 12:13 AMHope you all got a good gander before the plans disappeared down the memory hole.
From Democracy Now! headlines:
"U.S. Embassy in Iraq Plans Posted Online
In what the State Department is calling a breach of security, the architectural firm designing the new U.S. embassy in Iraq has posted its designs online. The firm, Berger Devine Yaeger, says the $600 million dollar project will include “two office buildings, six apartment buildings, a gym, a pool, a food court and its own power generation and water-treatment plants.” The U.S. ambassador’s residence will be 16,000 square feet. The embassy will be the size of nearly eighty football fields. The plans were removed after U.S. officials complained."
