State Dept. gets earful: Embassy in Iraq isn't safe

WASHINGTON — U.S. diplomats in Iraq, increasingly fearful over their personal safety after recent mortar attacks inside the Green Zone, are pointing to new delays and mistakes in the U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad as signs that their vulnerability could grow in the months ahead.

A toughly worded cable sent from the embassy to State Department headquarters on May 29 highlights a cascade of building and safety blunders in a new facility to house the security guards protecting the embassy.

The guards' base, which remains unopened, is just a small part of a vast $592 million project to build the largest U.S. Embassy in the world, but some State Department officials in Washington and Baghdad worry that the problems exposed in the camp suggest trouble lurking ahead for the rest of the embassy complex, scheduled for completion in the fall.

The first signs of trouble, according to the cable, emerged when the kitchen staff tried to cook the inaugural meal in the new guard base on May 15. Some appliances did not work. Workers began to get electric shocks. Then the wiring began to melt.

The electrical meltdown was just the first problem in a series of construction mistakes that soon left the base uninhabitable, including wiring problems, fuel leaks and noxious fumes in the sleeping trailers.

"Poor quality construction ... life safety issues ... left [the embassy] with no recourse but to shut the camp down, in spite of the blistering heat in Baghdad," the May 29 cable informed Washington.

The main builder of the sprawling, 21-building embassy is First Kuwaiti General Trade and Contracting Co., a Middle Eastern firm that is already under Justice Department scrutiny over alleged labor abuses. First Kuwaiti also erected the guard base.

Such challenges with construction contracts inside the fortified enclave known as the Green Zone reflect the broader problems that have thwarted reconstruction efforts throughout war-torn Iraq.

The "fairly serious problems" noted in the cable indicate that First Kuwaiti's work fails to meet basic safety standards, said an administration official who was not authorized to speak to the news media. "We are suspecting we will find the same issues in the new embassy," resulting in months of delays, the official said.

In a cable dated June 8, James Golden, the State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations' (OBO) managing director for the embassy project, berated personnel in Baghdad for sending their message over an open embassy system, rather than keeping the complaints in-house.

He defended First Kuwaiti and accused the embassy and KBR — a Texas-based company that runs many facilities in Iraq and discovered the wiring problems — of making false claims to deflect attention from their own errors.

The guard base "has been constructed to the approved design specifications," Golden wrote, adding that "none of the issues raised in the cable has merit" and that "it appears [the embassy] and KBR simply do not want to operate the camp for other reasons."

KBR said its concerns were justified. "Our initial assessments determined that the issues identified were not linked to KBR's work," said Heather Browne, the firm's director of corporate communications. "And in fact inspection reports from the [State Department] confirm that KBR was not responsible for the safety issues identified."

Pat Kennedy, director of the State Department's Office of Management Policy, said the embassy "is satisfied with the process we have put in place to address these issues."

Samir Ida, First Kuwaiti's construction director, said the guard base was completed to "all specifications." He provided an e-mail from an OBO official who described it as "one of the better-built camps" in Iraq. "The U.S. Embassy is still in the process of being constructed, and while some work remains, First Kuwaiti has not been informed of any issues relating to substandard work," he added.

The company is under investigation by the Justice Department amid allegations that foreign employees were brought into Iraq under false pretenses — such as being told they were to work in Dubai — and then forbidden to leave because the company had confiscated their passports. First Kuwaiti has denied those accusations as "ludicrous."

After the electrical problem was discovered, the embassy was forced to serve the 1,200 guards MREs (meals-ready-to-eat) for several days, according to the embassy cable's account.

Then, the 252 prefabricated residential trailers, with either two or three rooms each, filled with formaldehyde fumes. The manufacturer, a Saudi company called Red Sea Housing Services Co., confirmed to the embassy it had used the toxic chemical in preparing the housing. Red Sea told the embassy to keep the windows open and use charcoal in the rooms to absorb the odor, but "the fumes are still prevalent," the cable said.

The embassy cable noted a $500,000 project to install a fire-suppression system appeared to be proceeding without proper supervision.

KBR electricians determined that the electrical wiring was too small for the load required and raised concerns about the grounding and electrical feeds into the facility.

The embassy cable noted that there had been at least four fires in dining facilities in Iraq blamed on similar problems. At a May 16 meeting, KBR representatives began to express unease about their responsibility and liability in operating and maintaining the base's electrical system.

Meanwhile, on May 18, the OBO unexpectedly informed the embassy that it would soon stop maintaining the power stations and water-treatment facilities at the new guard base. The embassy protested that it had limited staff to operate the equipment, which needs to be in operation constantly to avoid costly repairs. First Kuwaiti provided only "minimal spare parts" for the power generators and "less than minimal spare parts" for the water-treatment plant, the cable said.

Finally, on May 25, a KBR hazardous-materials expert discovered that all 10 generators had developed leaks. The fuel tanks were installed without corrosion protection or leak detectors, and fuel had begun to saturate the soil around the tanks. The cable said Teflon tape designed for water pipes had been used on the fuel tanks, and that such tape "will dissolve on contact with diesel fuel." KBR refused to operate the power generators unless its liability was waived.

The result, the cable concluded, is that the guards will continue to stay in "tents and deplorable living conditions."

The new base — estimated to cost about $22 million — originally was due for completion in January. Officials now say the guard base will not be ready until Aug. 1.

The OBO certified that the camp "meets and exceeds" its contract requirements in a letter signed April 14 and provided by First Kuwaiti.