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US opens new Iraq embassy in symbolic move
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-05 22:38


US marines raise an US flag to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner during the formal opening of the new US embassy in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone January 5, 2009. [Agencies] 

The new embassy is located in the zone.

The US force in Iraq, now more than 140,000 strong, had previously operated under a UN Security Council resolution.

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US troops now work under the authority granted by the Iraqi government under a pact agreed by Washington and Baghdad.

That pact -- viewed by both countries as a milestone in restoring Iraqi sovereignty -- requires US troops to leave in three years, revokes their power to hold Iraqis without charge and subjects contractors and off-duty troops to Iraqi law.

Ziadeh said the mission of the new embassy would start to resemble those in other embassies around the world.

"Our work is looking at a whole range of issues on trade, on energy ... transportation sectors, rule of law," she said.