Troubled embassy faces investigation

WASHINGTON – A mortar shell smashed into the hulking new U.S. Embassy that’s under construction in Baghdad last May, damaging a wall and causing minor injuries to people inside the building. It also exposed enormous problems in the management of what’s become a $592 million government construction project.

The State Department contractor in charge of the project, James L. Golden, attempted to alter the scene of the blast, according to government officials familiar with the incident. The State Department inspector general prevented department officials from investigating the incident, according to interviews and documents.

A congressional committee is examining whether the walls of the still-unfinished embassy complex, which are supposed to be blast-resistant, performed as they should have during the attack.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker banished Golden from Iraq, but he continues to oversee the construction of the embassy in Baghdad; to be the liaison with the contractor, Kuwait-based First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co.; and to supervise other projects for the State Department’s Overseas Buildings Operations bureau.

The embassy – actually a 104-acre, Vatican-size compound of 21 buildings meant to house and sleep about 1,000 U.S. officials – was originally meant to open in June, then in September. Now, due to problems with the sprinkler system, the latest in a series of deficiencies blamed on First Kuwaiti, it remains unclear whether it will be ready for occupancy this year. Golden didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.

McClatchy Newspapers has also learned that:

“Aspects of the embassy’s construction are the subject of at least one U.S. government criminal investigation, according to officials in Congress and the administration. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter and declined to divulge more details.

“In order to rush the project, the longtime head of OBO, retired Army Maj. Gen. Charles Williams, signed a waiver in July 2005 allowing a sole-source contract to be awarded to First Kuwaiti.

“Columbia, Md.-based Cosmopolitan Inc., which was awarded the lead contract to build the embassy’s classified spaces, where intelligence officers and others work, meet and store information, was kicked off the job for alleged non-performance. It was replaced by Kaseman Corp. of Chantilly, Va.

As recently as August, Williams assured the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the embassy would be ready for occupancy by the end of September.

The State Department declined to make Williams available for an interview and directed questions to Patrick Kennedy, the department’s director of management policy.

Asked when the structure would be ready to occupy, he said, “Soon. But I’m not going to tell you whether soon is in two weeks, or six weeks or eight weeks.”