White House blocks inquiry into construction of $736m embassy in Iraq
Elana Schor in Washington
Guardian
Friday February 29 2008
The Bush administration is blocking an inquiry into the delay-plagued
construction of the $736m US embassy in Baghdad, a senior Democrat in
Congress said today.
Henry Waxman, who is chairman of the oversight committee in the House of
Representatives, asked US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice today to
explain why her department certified the embassy as "substantially
completed" in December despite inspections that reveal continued
deficiencies in the facility's water, fire alarm and kitchen systems.
The Baghdad embassy, which stands to become the largest US diplomatic
facility in the world, had an original opening date of mid-2007. But the
project stalled amid ballooning cost estimates as well as charges of
corruption and shoddy work by the private contracting company overseeing the project.
In addition, two US state department employees who worked on the embassy
project are now under criminal investigation. Waxman urged Rice to release
subpoenaed documents related to the Baghdad embassy project next week or
risk being forced to do so.
"It appears that the state department is concealing from Congress basic
information about the status of the embassy project and the activities of
the individuals and contractors involved," Waxman wrote to Rice. "This
continued intransigence is inappropriate."
The private construction company, First Kuwaiti General Trading &
Contracting, declined repeatedly to provide safety inspectors with reports
on fire protection systems at the embassy, according to reports released by Waxman. First Kuwaiti, based in Kuwait, remains the target of a separate US criminal probe into allegations of labour trafficking.
The state department has not yet received Waxman's letter but plans to
address the Democrat's concerns by his March 7 deadline, spokesman Tom Casey
told reporters today.
Casey defended the delay in construction of the embassy, asserting that the
building would not be occupied until its fitness for use could be certified.
"[W]e certainly have no intention of taking occupancy or establishing occupancy in a facility that doesn't fully meet all our standards,"
Casey said. He reminded reporters that First Kuwaiti is required under its
contract to bear the cost of any needed additional work.
a review of the embassy project and may revoke the building's "substantially completed" certification, McClatchy news service reported this week.
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