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Pentagon Backs Plan to Build US "Zone Of Influence" of Hotels and Resorts in Baghdad
By Satyam Khanna
ThinkProgress.org
Monday 05 May 2008
The White House has repeatedly insisted that the United States has "no
desire for permanent bases" in Iraq. Nevertheless, the Bush administration
is seeking to leave its footprint on Iraq through other means. The AP reports
that the Pentagon is backing a $5 billion dollar plan to "transform the
U.S.-protected Green Zone" into a "centerpiece for Baghdad's future,"
resulting in "big paydays for early investors":
For Washington, the driving motivation is to create a "zone
of influence" around the new $700 million U.S. Embassy to serve as a kind
of high-end buffer for the compound, whose total price tag will reach about
$1 billion after all the workers and offices are relocated over the next year.
"When you have $1 billion hanging out there and 1,000 employees lying
around, you kind of want to know who your neighbors are. You want to influence
what happens in your neighborhood over time," said Navy Capt. Thomas Karnowski,
who led the team that created the development plan.
An incentive for the project, which would include hotels, resorts, and commercial
development in the Green Zone, appears to be lining the pockets of investors
and allies rather than re-building Iraq's economy. In fact, Karnowski acknowledged
that American officials would vet potential investors because of a "vested
interest" - mirroring the cronyism of Saddam's Hussein's regime.
Some Iraqi leaders even have drawn parallels to the U.S.-backed
development plan and what Saddam Hussein did in the area - known by its
Iraqi name of Tashri during his regime. Hussein stocked the neighborhood with
family and tribal allies, political loyalists and members of his elite Republican
Guard. Karnowski called the accusation "partially true."
Many U.S. embassy officials have called the plan "unrealistic." One
added that Iraqis, a majority of whom oppose the U.S. presence, are unlikely
to want the U.S. to "turn this area into downtown Kansas City." "The
Iraqi government wants to limit U.S. power in the Green Zone," a top adviser
to Prime Minister Maliki said.
But the permanent U.S. footprint in Iraq is already making inroads. In addition
to construction of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the largest in the world, the
Los Angeles-based company that developed Disneyland is developing a "massive
American-style amusement park" in Baghdad "that will feature a skateboard
park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum." That project has the support
of Gen. David Petraeus.
"If you talk to people at the State Department, they still believe a hotel
isn't going up. But it is a done deal," Karnowski said of the Marriott
project. Another "possible $1 billion investment could come from MBI International,
a conglomerate that focuses on hotels and resorts and is led by Saudi Sheikh
Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber."
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