New embassy lacking in fortified housing

A portion of the new US embassy under construction, seen from across the Tigris River in Baghdad. The complex does not have enough fortified living quarters for hundreds of workers. (Associated Press/File 2007)

BAGHDAD - The new US Embassy complex does not have enough fortified living quarters for hundreds of diplomats and other workers, who must remain temporarily in trailers without special rooftop protection against mortars and rockets, government officials said.

Sorting out the housing crunch and funding could further delay moving all personnel into the compound until next year and exposes shortcomings in the planning for America's $700 million diplomatic hub in Iraq.

The issue of "hardened" housing in the US-protected Green Zone has gained renewed prominence since Shi'ite militias resumed steady attacks on the enclave in late March as part of a backlash to an Iraqi-led crackdown.

More than a dozen people have been killed in the Green Zone in the latest waves of attacks, including a US civilian government worker whose housing trailer was hit.

At one point, during the heaviest barrages early this month, the State Department ordered all its Baghdad employees to wear body armor and other protective gear while outside buildings in the Green Zone, which also contains the British Embassy, key Iraqi government offices, and other international compounds.

Staffers also were ordered not to sleep in their trailers, and hundreds of cots were placed inside the current embassy, which is a former Saddam Hussein palace.

The State Department took legal possession of the new embassy site last week - a step that had been delayed for months by construction problems - and the move could begin next month.

But there is not enough blast-resistant housing at the new site for hundreds of embassy workers, said Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management. One reason is because staffing levels are more than double than projected in 2005 when the compound was being designed.

The precise figure for the looming housing shortfall was not disclosed. Currently, the trailers behind the embassy hold about 1,000 people, including diplomats, embassy employees, translators, and civilian support staff. Private security contractors generally have their own housing.

The new embassy compound also needs to absorb about 100 workers from the State Department's aid division - which currently has a separate facility - and others from the US military command staff.

To meet the demand, many apartments inside the embassy compound are being divided into two units.

Capitol Hill officials with knowledge of the embassy plans said the State Department is working to secure funding for 600 to 700 trailers, with overhead protection, to be located at the new compound.

But they said it could be a year or more before everyone can move into the compound. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the embassy plans.

That means many embassy personnel will remain in the trailers behind the palace. Some trailers have sandbags, but not the strengthened roof coverings common at other embassies and in villas of many private companies.