shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it's a secret

Hussein Ali, KRT
Four tower cranes loom over the Iraqi capital as construction continues on a 104-acre embassy complex that dwarfs all other U.S. embassy construction projects. While no one will talk about the $592 million construction for security reasons, the cranes dominate the capital's skyline

one that costs over 500 MILLION dollars too! (wonder if it's going better than the big dig is?)

No one in Baghdad wants to talk about U.S. Embassy project
By Leila Fadel Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Don't ask about the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. It's a secret - security reasons.
But it's hard keeping a 104-acre complex rising on the banks of the Tigris River hidden. Anyone who cares to know can easily see four giant construction cranes towering over the river at the largest such project ever undertaken by the United States - a symbol of American presence that will last well into the future.
When the complex is completed by June 2007 - this one apparently is on schedule, unlike most construction projects here - it will be an American oasis in the heavily fortified Green Zone, away from the fear and lack of services that permeate the rest of Baghdad. Among the 21 buildings will be a recreation center to rival any in the United States with, among other amenities, a pool, gym, food court, beauty salon and, of course, a recreational area that will be called the American Club.
Baghdad may have little potable water and only a few hours of electricity a day, but the embassy complex will have its own water treatment facilities and electricity generator.
First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, a subcontractor of Halliburton's Kellogg, Brown and Root, was granted the $592 million construction contract. By December it had already been paid about $483 million.
The company is a relative novice when it comes to embassy building and has been criticized for its treatment of Asian workers, who critics claim are imported for their low wages and work under hard conditions. About 900 laborers live on site as they build the complex, according to a report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has congressional oversight responsibility for the project.
But little else can be gleaned about the expansive complex, which will sit on some of central Baghdad's most desirable real estate and will, when finished, dominate the view of anyone standing on the other side of the river...................