Just in the last month we’ve had the sensational revelations about the State Dept.’s Inspector General repeatedly thwarting investigations and censoring reports that might prove politically embarrassing to the Bush administration, followed by the sensational revelations about the State Dept. acting as Blackwater USA’s bitch — lying to cover up their killings, smuggling their killers out of Iraq, never holding Blackwater to account for anything, blindly supporting their self-serving version of every troubling incident. (Viva Madame Secretary, Ph.D.! Condi really rocks!)

And now we find that the high-profile mega-million Uncle Sam Palace project in Baghdad is even more badly messed up than the State Dept. was previously willing to admit. Plus there are some more sensational revelations to go with that. (Viva Madame Secretary, Ph.D.! Condi really rocks!)

As recently as last Thursday, the State Department was pretending the project was on schedule: “Deputy spokesman Tom Casey said Thursday he was not aware of any new major delay in the opening of the embassy that will sit on a 104-acre site and have working space for about 1,000 people.” Saturday we learned that it may be as much as six months behind schedule. (Viva Madame Secretary, Ph.D.! Condi really rocks!)

As recently as last Thursday, we were being told (by an anonymous U.S. official) that at least we didn’t have to worry about the project being over budget. The “delays would have no direct cost to taxpayers because contractor First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting Co. had agreed to deliver for a set $592 million price.” Saturday we learned that the project is $144 million dollars over budget, increasing the total cost to $736 million. Guess there were some loopholes big enough to drive a construction crane through. (Viva Madame Secretary, Ph.D.! Condi really rocks!)

In due course, no doubt Condi Rice will appear, and put on her most uppity Madame Ph.D. voice, and explain everything. (And that Ph.D. is only from the University of Denver, which barely even counts in the real world. Can you imagine how she’d talk if her Ph.D. were from Stanford?)

Till then, let’s just lay out some basic facts.

The massive U.S. embassy under construction in Baghdad could cost $144 million more than projected and will open months behind schedule because of poor planning, shoddy workmanship, internal disputes and last-minute changes sought by State Department officials, according to U.S. officials and a department document provided to Congress.

The embassy, which will be the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in the world, was budgeted at $592 million. The core project was supposed to have been completed by last month, but the timetable has slipped so much that the State Department has sought and received permission from the Iraqi government to allow about 2,000 non-Iraqi construction employees to stay in the country until March.

Two key office buildings, including the new chancery, will not be finished until early 2009, according to the document.

Incidentally, Tom Casey’s boss is Sean McCormack. That means Sean McCormack has been lying to the press and public longer than Casey has. And he knows the value of pleading ignorance instead of letting himself be caught in pointless self-destructing lies. So after Casey said on Thursday that “he was not aware of any new major delay”:

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he does not know when the embassy will be ready. “I can’t tell you right now when it will open,” he said Friday. “Now, that’s not to indicate to you that it’s going to be a lengthy period of time. It could be a brief period of time. But the fact is, I can’t give you an opening date right now.”

See, that’s how it’s done, Tommy. Misdirection, my boy, not lies. Take some pride in your work!

Incidentally, keep an eye out for Overseas Building Operations, which is part of the State Department. They seem to be to First Kuwaiti as the Bureau of Diplomatic Security is to Blackwater USA. That is to say, enablers and protectors.

Now here’s the icing on the cake:

The Baghdad project has been complicated by a dispute between the U.S. ambassador in Iraq, Ryan C. Crocker, and the top Washington-based official charged with overseeing the project. That official, James L. Golden, has been barred from entering Iraq by Crocker because he allegedly disobeyed embassy orders during an investigation of a worker’s death, sources said.

The sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were revealing sensitive internal matters, said Golden — who is a contract employee — was suspected of destroying evidence in the case. When confronted by embassy officials, he allegedly told them he worked for Washington, not the embassy. Crocker then banished him from the country.

Golden did not return calls to his office, and Crocker declined to comment. Pat Kennedy, the director of the State Department’s Office of Management Policy, confirmed that Crocker would not allow Golden to return to Iraq, saying there was “a discussion about following procedures at post.”

Several things I simply must say here.

One, I’m delighted to learn that the top official we have overseeing this mega-million dollar project is a contractor. That’s precisely what they taught us when we were kids: set a thief to catch a thief. (Good call, Condi Rice, “Ph.D.”!)

Two, I’m delighted to learn that Golden seems to report to someone very high up in Washington (“he worked for Washington, not the embassy”). For convenience, let’s call him Condi’s Golden child.

Three, it’s immensely reassuring that when you are Condi’s Golden child, you feel entitled to destroy evidence that is material to the investigation of a subordinate’s death. And that the worse that happens to you is you are banned from Iraq. You don’t, for example, stop being the top official overseeing the mega-million dollar project

Four, we should all be grateful that Condi Rice, “Ph.D.”, doesn’t believe in hiding her light under a bushel, and puts her management skills on display for all to admire. The top official overseeing construction of the new embassy is banned by the U.S. ambassador from entering Iraq, and Condi doesn’t even intervene to sort things out?

Five, Condi’s Golden child remains the top official charged with overseeing construction of the embassy, even though he’s banned from entering Iraq to actually oversee anything! How priceless is that? (Viva Madame Secretary, “Ph.D.”! Condi really rocks!)