[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 7 (Friday, January 12, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E103-E104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            IRAQ AND EMBASSY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. CORRINE BROWN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 12, 2007

  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today regarding 
the President's folly in Iraq.
  Folly is not the right word. Better words would be disaster, 
catastrophe, tragedy. The folly is the new embassy the United States is 
building in Baghdad.
  The embassy complex--21 buildings on 104 acres, is the size of 
Vatican City and will be the largest in the world. It will employ over 
5500 people.
  Currently, there are 1,000 people who work in the U.S. Embassy in 
Iraq.
  However, only 33 are Arabic speakers and Only six speak the language 
fluently.
  The Iraq Study Group said that ``our efforts in Iraq, military and 
civilian, are handicapped by Americans' lack of knowledge of language 
and cultural understanding.''
  ``In a conflict that demands effective and efficient communication 
with Iraqis, we are often at a disadvantage.''
  The U.S. government should give ``the highest possible priority to 
professional language proficiency and cultural training'' for officials 
headed to Iraq.
  Who do we send?
  Over twenty thousand new military personnel.
  The embassy's 104 acres is six times larger than the United Nations 
compound in New York and two-thirds the acreage of Washington' s 
National Mall.
  The embassy will cost over 1 billion, One billion, dollars.
  It will be self-sufficient, designed to function in the midst of 
Baghdad power outages, water shortages and continuing turmoil.
  It will have its own water wells, electricity plant and wastewater 
treatment facility, ``systems to allow 100 percent independence from 
city utilities.''
  It includes two major diplomatic office buildings, homes for the 
ambassador and his deputy, and six apartment buildings for staff.

[[Page E104]]

  The compound will also offer a swimming pool, gym, commissary, food 
court and American Club, all housed in a recreation building.
  Security, overseen by U.S. Marines, will be extraordinary: setbacks 
and perimeter no-go areas that will be especially deep, structures 
reinforced to 2.5-times the standard, and five high-security entrances, 
plus an emergency entrance-exit.
  The extraordinary security designed into this embassy shows how 
insecure our personnel are considered to be by the government.
  The President's Iraq policy has made us less safe and must be 
changed.
  Get our troops out now.

                          ____________________