Closed for business

I passed the boarded up former Iraqi Embassy at 21 Queen's Gate on Sunday afternoon. Renamed the 'Iraqi Interests Section' after the first Gulf War it was finally abandoned in February 2003. Saddam's flag still flies at roughly half mast above the portico.

A new ambassador for the changed regime finally turned up in late 2004 and found that the building had been extensively burgled. Even some of the antique fireplaces had been carried off.

The thieves had left the safes alone so the new team brought in some professional safe-crackers and in one safe that was located in the second floor office where the Iraqi security service had been based, they discovered a cache of weapons including several Uzis and Kalashnikovs and ten handguns, some of which were fitted with silencers. Elsewhere they found some electric cattle prods, telescopic cameras and various bugging devices.

The Bulgarian embassy and that of Oman are opposite. One imagines that these kind of stashes are not entirely uncommon in the diplomatic community. The Bulgarian embassy used to operate a Duty Free shop where you could buy very cheap bottles of Becks and other goodies. You had to take a friendly Bulgar along with you as your membership card.

Anyway, two years ago the BBC reported that the Iraqi government had decided to rennovate this basically derelict building. Yet here we are in August 2007 and it appears to be in the same state of rennovation as Iraq itself.