There’s a new construction chief for the U.S. embassy project in Baghdad and he’s already made the mistake of talking honestly:

The State Department’s new embassy construction chief has rejected his predecessor’s certification that the $740 million new U.S. embassy in Baghdad is “substantially completed” and has instead begun a top-to-bottom review of the troubled project.

The official, Richard Shinnick, said in an interview the State Department hopes that the sprawling embassy complex — originally scheduled to be completed last September — will be ready by March 31.

But he said repeatedly that he’s not setting a target date because past deadlines have forced a rush to complete the embassy’s defective work.

Maybe they’re having some utility problems like in Najaf where power is restricted to one or two hours a day. This link has a very interesting report on life in Iraq.