Iraq Embassy Staffing Called Inadequate (Ambassador is "panicking")

[Hissyspit]

Source: Washington Post

Iraq Embassy Staffing Called Inadequate
Embassy Staff In Baghdad Inadequate, Rice Is Told
Ambassador's Memo Asks for 'Best People'

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 19, 2007; Page A01

Ryan C. Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, bluntly told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a cable dated May 31 that the embassy in Baghdad -- the largest and most expensive U.S. embassy -- lacks enough well-qualified staff members and that its security rules are too restrictive for Foreign Service officers to do their jobs. "Simply put, we cannot do the nation's most important work if we do not have the Department's best people," Crocker said in the memo.

The unclassified cable underscores the State Department's struggle to find its role in the turmoil in Iraq. With a 2007 budget of more than $1 billion and a staff that has expanded to more than 1,000 Americans and 4,000 third-country nationals, the embassy has become the center of a bureaucratic battle between Crocker, who wants to strengthen the staff, and some members of Congress, who are increasingly skeptical about the diplomatic mission's rising costs.

"In essence, the issue is whether we are a Department and a Service at war," Crocker wrote. "If we are, we need to organize and prioritize in a way that reflects this, something we have not done thus far." In the memo, Crocker drew upon the recommendations of a management review he requested for the embassy shortly after arriving in Baghdad two months ago.

"He's panicking," said one government official who recently returned from Baghdad, adding that Crocker is carrying a heavy workload as the United States presses the Iraqi government to meet political benchmarks.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/18/AR2007061801503.html?hpid=topnews

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. As a American taxpayer, I am so ashamed of what....

my government has done "in my name". What a slap in the face of the Iraqi people, to build this monstrosity of an embassy, while they suffer through blackouts and shortages of clean drinking water, daily attacks, death squads, etc.

I honestly hope we have the common sense to withdraw all Americans from Iraq, and leave that embassy & its future to the Iraqi people.

[Phredicles]

2. If I were US ambassador to Iraq, at this point I'd be wearing Depends 24/7,

I have to believe.

[bobthedrummer]

3. Ryan C. Crocker

Source Watch profile
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ryan_Crocker

He's a real bright guy, he's a Frater of Tau Kappa Epsilon
http://www.tke.org/news/3

[pinto]

4. Part of the problem may be the inexperienced hires from the RNC ranks,

the 'loyal Bushies', not to mention the disaster itself, of course.

:grr:

[ClintonTyree]

7. They must be running low by now......

I mean, how many "loyal Bushies" can be left that already haven't been placed in government jobs that they are in no way qualified for? :shrug: The government is riddled with them: asshats who's only qualification is the ability to put a lip-lock on Bush's butt. Bush's polling numbers being what they are, there MUST be a severe shortage of "loyal Bushies". Few want to be mentioned in the same breath with Bush's name let alone be part of his corrupt, criminal enterprise.

[LibDemAlways]

5. It's only a matter of time before the last remaining

Americans are airlifted from the roof of that monstrosity before the Iraqi people either claim it or destroy it in a totally understandable fit of rage.

[Nihil]

6. And, of course, the smart thing for the Iraqis to do ...

... is keep a mortar (or better) trained on the helipads ready to close
the trap completely when the time comes.

The problem with "all your eggs in one basket" is compounded when the
basket is so obscenely big that it can't be evacuated safely.

:shrug:

[annabanana]

8. No one expected - this - guy to panic. .

When face to face with a dangerous and intractable situation?

[tanyev]

9. Condi's doing a heckuva job.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Saddled by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the State Department faces an acute staff shortage crisis amid "worsening morale," according to a study which blames Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for the problem.

The report by the influential Foreign Affairs Council, comprising senior retired American diplomats and ambassadors, said the department faced a shortage of 1,100 staff and that in the "first two years of Secretary Rice's stewardship almost no net new resources have been realized."

The report said that some 200 existing jobs -- mostly overseas -- were unfilled and than an additional 900 training slots necessary to provide essential "linguistic and functional" skills "do not exist."

"Morale of course is strongly impacted by the fact that we didn't have enough people -- which means that an awful lot of people are pushing it to the limit," Boyatt said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070605/ts_alt_afp/usriceiraqafghanistan

[kineneb]

14. "the floggings will continue until moral improves"

have t-shirt, mouse pad and coffee cup with this motto... sounds like the State Dept. needs to invest in a bulk quantity of the above for their staff.

[gratuitous]

10. Was Crocker expecting an outburst of competence?

This administration has the Fecas Touch: Everything it touches turns to shit, and this Dracula's Castle of an embassy is no exception. The only thing they're interested in is looting Iraq's oil, and moving on to the next "conquest." Diplomacy and classic statesmanship don't figure into their plans, because they make and live in their own reality. Sucks for the rest of the world when reality (which has a well-known liberal bias, so watch Fox News only) doesn't conform to their wishes.

[OneBlueSky]

11. takes a lotta damn staff to run a palace . . . just ask the Windsors . . . n/t

.

[bemildred]

12. Crocker is just making sure everybody knows that it's not his fault and

he tried really, really hard to prevent the coming collapse, like the loyal and obedient servant which he is.

[MetaTrope]

13. This is what happens when they don't get their Baskin-Robbins ice cream delivered on time

:cry:

[Javaman]

15. So you mean the clueless bush youth they they stocked it with, weren't working out?

I find that hard to believe, hard to believe.

[november3rd]

16. classic waste

in an occupation of this character, why should the fate of the embassy be any different than the rest of the American operations?

character is quintessential in judging the nature of events.

character is fate.

from the 2000 election, everything has been evident to see. all that has followed is consistent with the character of that event.

so the embassy will be the most expensive diplomatic fiasco in US history.

was anybody expecting otherwise?

my prediction is the whole project will be abandoned within ten years. there will be weeds growing over the pavements and rats living in the palaces.