Tragedy of America’s Fortress-Like Embassies

“It is sad, but it is the reality the United States faces.”

This is an unofficial Department of State staffer’s comment on the recent criticism the media released about the American Embassy building in Baghdad, Iraq. The ‘sad issue’ he mentioned was the reality that the United States is currently facing around the world: America now has to build high and thick walls around its embassies, making them into virtual fortresses.

Two such buildings drew the attention of Washington D.C. on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

These two are the American Embassy in Baghdad-the largest embassy building ever-and the Department of Defense building (the Pentagon) that is being renovated as an impenetrable fortress. They all remind us of the reality that the U.S. is fully engaged in the ‘War against Terrorism.’

Castle within a Castle: the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad-

Upon the western shores of the Tigris River in Baghdad, the U.S. Embassy is in the final phase of construction.

The new embassy is being built upon an assigned strip of land that used to be a riverside park, constituting a total 104 acres (420,000 m²). This is approximately six times the area of U.N. Headquarters in New York and ten times the size of the new U.S. Embassy building being built in Beijing, China. It is equivalent to the total area of the Vatican.

Walls of at least 2.7 meters in height will surround the complex, with 21 buildings inside. There will be a power plant, sewer system, swimming pool, movie theater, shopping facilities and a social club.

Jane Loeffler, Architectural History Professor at University of Maryland, wrote in a Foreign Policy (September/October issue) article that, “An overseas embassy must be a place where it can communicate with local society while promoting the benevolence and democratic values of the United States,” and that “The new embassy was designed with a frontier outpost in mind.”

She also remarked that, “Although the U.S. administration proclaims confidence in a future Iraqi democracy, the embassy conveys no such confidence.”

Fortified Pentagon-

A memorial hall will be completed within the Department of Defense complex nearby the Potomac River to commemorate the 184 people who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. However, a greater change than the memorial hall will occur, as the Washington Post released on September 9 news of the fortification of offices to fortress-level protection.

The outer windows of the building have been replaced by special glass panes that can withstand a large-scale explosion, while state of the art security systems have been installed in the building. A police squad of one thousand is capable of fending off any chemical, biological and radiological attack. In order to reach the building, most visitors will have to park their cars at an outer rim parking lot and walk about ten minutes through an over-pass that is built on top of multi-layered defense walls.

sechepa@donga.com