It cost more than three-quarters-of-a-billion U.S. taxpayer dollars to build and has been plagued by construction snafus, but the State Department has finally gotten the "deed" to the massive new Baghdad embassy — the largest U.S. mission in the world.
Today, the State Department got the the "certificate of occupancy" to $736 million fortress. That means late next month or early in June, U.S. diplomatic staff can start moving into 27 buildings in the Green Zone compound, which covers 104 acres, has office space for 1,000 and housing for several hundred.
One measure of how much the embassy cost: It's equal to the estimated value of the New York Mets franchise last year. (You decide which is the better deal ...)
The top U.S. ground commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, will have to wait to put up the family photos in his office, however. It's not ready. The compound was supposed to have opened last September.
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