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Baghdad Embassy Plans Turn Up Online
Few are, and in Baghdad, the construction is under heavy guard and treated with extreme secrecy. It is off-limits to all but those with special passes, surrounded by tall, concrete blast walls and impossible to see except from the air.
The images posted on the Web site show that the $592 million embassy, expected to be completed in September on prime real estate two-thirds the size of Washington's National Mall, will be a spacious and comfortable facility, albeit dangerous.
  This computer generated architectural rendering recently posted on the architect's web site reportedly shows the entrance to the residence of the Deputy Chief of Mission, part of the American Embassy complex in Baghdad, Iraq, currently under construction. Detailed plans for the new U.S. Embassy now under construction in Baghdad appeared online Thursday, May 31, 2007, in a breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project that will be America's largest diplomatic mission abroad. The post was removed by the company from its website shortly after being contacted about it by the State Department. (AP Photo) (AP) 
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Identified as the "Baghdad U.S. Embassy Compound Master Plan," the images show palm-lined paths, green grass gardens and volleyball and basketball courts outside the Marine post, as well as the swimming pool.
"In total, the 104-acre compound will include over twenty buildings, including one classified secure structure and housing for over 380 families," the Web site says.
It says the compound will include the embassy building, housing, a PX, commissary, cinema, retail and shopping areas, restaurants, schools, a fire station, power and water treatment plants as well as telecommunications and wastewater treatment facilities.
A U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report last year said embassy security will be extraordinary: Setbacks and perimeter no-go areas will be especially deep, structures reinforced to 2.5 times the standard and five high-security entrances, plus an emergency entrance-exit.
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On the Net:
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Associated Press Writer Kim Gamel contributed to this report from Baghdad.
