Baghdad, Beijing, Berlin top US embassy projects

Inside the State Department, Baghdad, Beijing and Berlin are known collectively as the "three Bs" and are at the heart of a multibillion-dollar effort to secure U.S. embassies.

After years of planning, delays and controversy, the three capitals will have huge, new state-of-the-art American diplomatic compounds up and running in the coming months at a cost of more than $1.3 billion.

With much pomp and circumstance, the $143 million U.S. Embassy adjacent to Berlin's historic Brandenburg Gate will be formally opened on July 4 at an Independence Day ceremony that former President Bush is expected to attend, officials say. The project had been slow to get off the ground due to German objections to some security requirements.

A month later, on Aug. 8, with similar fanfare, the current President Bush plans to cut the ribbon on the $434 million U.S. Embassy in Beijing. It replaces the existing facility that had been jury-rigged to meet minimum standards.

There is no formal ceremony set for the opening of the new embassy in Baghdad, a behemoth that will end up costing more than $736 million once changes to the original design are finished. Some diplomats have already begun to move into and work in the heavily fortified compound.