Next biggest US embassy, in Beijing, is one tenth
as large. It’s 6 times larger than UN headquarters.
Why is America’s Baghdad Embassy the world’s largest embassy —
and the largest by far?
— Iraqi Sheikh Qassim Al Ta’ee, as quoted on 27 December 2011
in Al Iraq News and translated by Ibrahim Zaidan from the original Arabic by Nicholas Dagher
Zaidan’s article went on to say:
The world's largest embassy is situated in the Green Zone and
fortified by three walls, another barrier of concrete slabs, followed by barbed
wire fences and a wall of sandbags. It covers an area of 104 acres, six times
larger than UN headquarters in New York and ten times larger than the new
embassy Washington is building in Beijing – which is just 10 acres.
So, America's largest diplomatic mission is surrounded by high
concrete walls, is painted in black, brown and grey and is completely isolated
from its environment. … The United States announced several months ago that
between diplomats and employees, its embassy would include 16,000 people after the pullout of US forces.
On January 1st, Will Sillitoe headlined at the Helsinki
Times, "What does the US embassy in Baghdad export to Finland and dozens of
other countries?” and he reported that:
More than a million kilograms of cargo were shipped from Baghdad
to different parts of the world, reveals US embassies procurement documents.
Mysterious cargo shipments from the US Embassy in Baghdad to
other American embassies and consulates around the world have been revealed on
a Wikileaks' database. Procurement orders of US embassies are public documents,
but Wikileaks put them in a searchable database making it easier to analyse.
The database displaying worldwide US embassy orders of goods and
services reveals Baghdad as a postal and shipping centre for tonnes of freight.
Though military freight might be expected between the US and
Iraq, records show that embassies across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the
Americas and Africa are all receiving deliveries from Baghdad too.
According to Wikileaks' database, orders to ship more than 540
tonnes of cargo to the US were made in May 2018. The same document shows other
main delivery destinations included 120 tonnes of freight to Europe, and 24
tonnes to South Africa, South America and Central Africa respectively. …
On December 29th, Sillitoe had headlined "Guarded warehouse near airport and mysterious cargos from Baghdad;
what is the US embassy in Helsinki up to?” and he opened:
Why does the US Embassy in Helsinki need a big warehouse near
Malmi Airport and what are the contents of thousands of kilograms of cargo sent
to Helsinki from Baghdad?
A dilapidated warehouse in Malmi is being used by the US Embassy
for unknown operations after a Wikileaks release revealed its location.
The anonymous looking building on Takoraudantie is notable only
for the new 427 meter perimeter fence that according to the Wikileaks' database
was ordered by the US Embassy in April 2018.
Situated across the street from the main entrance of Malmi
Airport, the warehouse with its 3 meter high security fence appears an unlikely
location for official embassy business. Neighbouring companies include a car
yard and a tyre warehouse.
Helsinki Times visited the perimeters this weekend. Security
personnel, young Finns in uniforms with American flags on their arms, appeared
nervous and suspicious when asked to comment on the warehouse. ...
Sillitoe closed that article by saying: “The searchable
Wikileaks database and info about Finland related activities can be found HERE.”
Read the rest
here: https://russia-insider.com/en/node/25875
