Some interesting stuff in the local paper of record this morning: turns out that the new U.S. embassy in Iraq was designed by local firm “Berger Devine Yaeger,” which, honestly, sounds like the name of a long-lost Rothschild heir. The firm has designed buildings as far away as Sydney, so it obviously has international experience, but this really takes the cake! This firm should be standing proud, basking in the glow of its most lucrative work yet: the diplomatic headquarters for the 51st state latest member of the Democracy Club! Um… right?
“Really, we’d rather you talked to our partner company,” said Carl Yaeger, president of Berger Devine Yaeger, which came up with the overall look for the largest, most expensive embassy perhaps in world history.
No comment, said that partner, the Berger Group of New Jersey.
Oh. So… we’re not proud of this building? Did it lose some of its aesthetic beauty in the barbed wire and reinforced steel walls? Oh, wait — here’s the reason the firm doesn’t want to talk about it. They’ve been spurned by the State Department over the embassy’s luxurious accoutrements!
In May 2007, it got a tongue-lashing from anti-terror types for posting plan drawings on the Web. How much the complex looks like those drawings is debatable, though there doesn’t appear to be a large outdoor pool, as BDY pictured.
If there’s anything that can win hearts and minds, it’s the sight of our diplomats enjoying poolside cocktails while Baghdad burns. Another brilliant move in the chess game that is the war on terror.
