It’s the gigantic US embassy in Baghdad. USA Today reports:
The $592 million facility is being built inside the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of a Kuwaiti contractor, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. Construction materials have been stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq's roads.
"We are confident the embassy will be completed according to schedule (by June 2007) and on budget," said Justin Higgins, a State Department spokesman.
The same cannot be said for major projects serving Iraqis outside the Green Zone, the Senate report said. Many — including health clinics, water-treatment facilities and electrical plants — have had to be scaled back or in some cases eliminated because of the rising costs of securing worksites and workers.
"No large-scale, U.S.-funded construction program in Iraq has yet met its schedule or budget," the committee report said. [all emphasis POGO's]
In the article's sidebar (posted on the above and to the right), POGO noticed that Disneyland and the Mall of America are two of USA Today's sources for the information on the US embassy complex. Is Disney helping to build the US Embassy in Iraq?
UPDATE: POGO spoke with Barbara Slavin, the author of the USA Today article, about the Disney reference. Slavin said that Disneyland was consulted in order to compare the size of its theme park with the US Embassy complex.