Cost of Iraq's 'new era':
AlJazeeraEnglish | August 28, 2010
The US government has said that the change of military strategy in Iraq is a "new era" for the country.
Operation Iraqi Freedom will become Operation New Dawn from Wednesday.
This means fewer soldiers in the country, but more diplomats who will be living in the world's biggest embassy in Baghdad.
The embassy stretches across 2km and and 104 acres of land - six times the size of the UN headquarters and bigger than the Vatican.
Along with four new regional offices it will house nearly 2,500 diplomats, protected by as many as 7,000 private security guards.
For travel anywhere outside of the embassy, the diplomats have a new fleet of armoured cars, trucks and special aircraft.
All this will cost the US $2.5bn next year, over and above the costs of maintaining a military force of 50,000 American soldiers.
Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna reports.
