Taxpayer money builds shrine to stupidity

Ray Harbert, Las Vegas

Saturday, April 19, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

It is hard for me to believe the United States would build a billion-dollar fortress-like embassy in a foreign country halfway around the world. But under the guidance of our fearless leaders, President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, we have managed to squander more of the taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

The embassy is a monument to the Bush administration’s stupidity. It is obviously not a building for diplomacy but a military command post for an occupying power.

It was not that long ago that the world was criticizing Saddam Hussein for building opulent palaces across Iraq at the expense of the Iraqi people. The infrastructure of the nation was coming apart at the seams as he built his pleasure palaces across the nation.

Now that he has been disposed of, Iraq has a new spendthrift, George W. Bush. The big difference is that the Iraqis are not picking up the tab — it is the hard-pressed taxpayers of the United States. I hope they will name the edifice appropriately, “George’s Folly.”