"...Petreaus ordered the lake refilled and turned into a water park for all of Baghdad to enjoy. "

(In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree)

http://www.washingto...010202491_pf.html

Stuff ain't cheap:

http://en.wikipedia...._Embassy,_Baghdad

"A new embassy, ... opened in January 2009 in the Green Zone in Baghdad. The embassy complex comprises 21 buildings on a 104 acre (42 ha) site, making it the largest and most expensive U.S. embassy in the world."

Largest and most expensive. Think about that. Go big or go home, I hear a lot.

http://www.icasualties.org/ 5,880 US dead so far.

http://costofwar.com/en/ 1.1 trillion.

Go big, I guess.