Embassy of the United States, Baghdad

Embassy of the United States, Baghdad

Chancery Building in January 2014
Map
LocationIraq Baghdad, Iraq
Coordinates33°17′56″N 44°23′46″E / 33.299°N 44.396°E / 33.299; 44.396
OpenedMay 2008 (2008-05)
AmbassadorAlina Romanowski (since 2022)

The Embassy of the United States of America in Baghdad (Arabic: سفارة الولايات المتحدة، بغداد) is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Republic of Iraq. Ambassador Alina Romanowski is currently the chief of mission.[1]

At 104 acres (42 ha), it is the largest U.S. embassy in the world; it is nearly as large as Vatican City.[2] The embassy complex is about 2.5 times the size of the Embassy of the United States, Beirut, which is the second-largest U.S. diplomatic mission abroad, as well as over three times the size of the Embassy of the United States, Islamabad, which is the third-largest U.S. diplomatic mission abroad.[3]

The embassy opened in January 2009 following a series of construction delays. It replaced the previous embassy, which opened July 1, 2004 in Baghdad's Green Zone in a former Palace of Saddam Hussein.[4] The embassy complex cost US$750 million to build and reached a peak staffing of 16,000 employees and contractors in 2012.[5] The U.S. thereafter embarked on a major personnel reduction that reduced the total staffing to 11,500 in January 2013 and to 5,500 by 2014.[6] Total headcount was reduced to 486 by late 2019 and 349 by mid-2020.[7]

On 31 December 2019, the embassy was attacked by supporters of Popular Mobilization Forces militia in response to airstrikes in Iraq and Syria conducted by United States Air Force the previous Sunday.[8] The embassy was also repeatedly attacked by Iranian-aligned Iraqi Shiite militias and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following President Trump's order for a drone strike assassination against Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Baghdad Airport on 3 January 2020.

  1. ^ "U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Term of Appointment". Department of State. September 1, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  2. ^ "New embassy in Iraq a mystery". NBC News. April 14, 2006. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  3. ^ "New embassy reflects growing ties to China". Associated Press. August 4, 2008. A massive new U.S. Embassy, the second-largest in the world after the heavily fortified compound in Baghdad, formally opens in the Chinese capital this week, a testament to the depth and breadth of the ties binding the trading partners and sometimes rivals.
  4. ^ "New US embassy opens in Baghdad The compound" BBC News (January 5, 2009)
  5. ^ Arango, Tim (February 7, 2012). "U.S. Is Planning to Cut Its Staff at Iraq Embassy by as Much as Half". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "Inspection of Embassy Baghdad and Constituent Posts, Iraq" (PDF).
  7. ^ Gramer, Robbie. "State Department Outlines Dramatic Scale-Down of U.S. Presence in Iraq". Foreign Policy. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  8. ^ "Militiamen breach US Embassy in Baghdad;". Associated Press News.

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