New U.S. embassy inaugurated in Baghdad

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New U.S. embassy inaugurated in Baghdad

By Chelsea J. Carter - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 5, 2009 16:24:12 EST

BAGHDAD — The United States opened its new embassy in Iraq under tight security Monday, the most visible sign of what U.S. officials call a new chapter in relations between America and a more sovereign Iraq.

The inauguration of the $700 million fortress-like compound in the heart of the Green Zone came just days after a security agreement between Iraq and the United States took effect, replacing a U.N. mandate that gave legal authority to the U.S. and other foreign troops to operate in Iraq.

“Iraq is in a new era and so is the Iraqi-U.S. relationship,” Ambassador Ryan Crocker said during an inauguration ceremony at the embassy.

But as Crocker lauded progress made in Iraq, Baghdad was rocked by a second day of violence that saw four car bombs explode in various parts of the city, killing four people and wounding 19 others. It came a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 38 people at a Shiite shrine just four miles north of the site of the new embassy.

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