Plans for the new American embassy in Baghdad on the internet

Publisher
ČTK
01.06.2007 14:05
Czech Republic

Strakonice

Washington - Detailed plans for the new American embassy currently under construction in Baghdad have surfaced online. According to the AP agency, this occurred due to a serious breach of security protocols surrounding this sensitive project, the largest American diplomatic mission abroad.
Computer projections of the embassy, which is soon to become a reality, appeared on the website of the architectural firm Berger Devine Yaeger Inc from Kansas City, which designed the massive complex. The plans disappeared from the web shortly after the intervention of the State Department.
"We are working extremely hard to ensure the safety of our employees abroad. The release of such information undermines our efforts," stated State Department spokesman Gozalo Gallegos with alarm.
Ten images of the embassy appeared online, including the overall layout and descriptions of individual buildings, including the embassy itself, attached offices, a Marine guard station, a pool, a recreation center, and residences for the ambassador and his deputy.
The embassy is being built under strict security and even stricter secrecy on the banks of the Tigris River behind massive fences, commensurate with concerns about attacks from insurgents on such a high-priority target. The construction on 104 acres for $592 million (12.44 billion CZK), where around 380 families of diplomats are set to live, is expected to be completed by September. According to a report from last year by the Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Senate, the security of the embassy is supposed to be at an extraordinary level.
Dan Sreebny, a spokesman for the Baghdad embassy, declined to comment on how accurately the released images reflect reality, citing security reasons.
The parent company of the architectural firm Louis Berger claims that the released plans were so preliminary that they would not have helped any enemies. A better overview could supposedly be obtained by downloading satellite images from the internet.
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