We won't go

[Robbien]

That is what diplomats appear to be saying to Rice. Lack of volunteers to serve in Iraq are now forcing the State department to order diplomats into Iraq or be fired.

Lacking volunteers, U.S. plans to draft envoys to Iraq post

The U.S. State Department has identified 250 foreign service staff as "prime candidates" for almost 50 posts in Iraq. If there aren't enough applicants for the jobs, some will be ordered to Iraq and risk being fired otherwise.

The 250 workers will be informed of their candidacy on Monday and have 10 days to reply. They would be eligible for benefits not normally afforded their position as enticement to take the job.

It appears to be the first time since the '80s that U.S. diplomats have been forced into specific posts by the government, which did so in Africa in the 1970s and '80s and sent an entire new class to Vietnam in 1969.

[Olney Blue]

1. The diplomats aren't stupid.

[babylonsister]

2. The State Dept. has been asking for volunteers for months. Now it's

an order. I'm just waiting to hear how State Dept. officials/diplomats squirm to get out of doing this. I predict some retirements.

[Robbien]

5. I read an article which said even diplomats who are in Iraq won't go

to the embassy. They stay behind the barbed wire and concrete walls of the Green Zone.

Didn't even the Red Cross leave Iraq refusing to go back?

[emilyg]

3. How about the Bush girls - they like to travel.

[flyarm]

4. be fired -or die...i'd take ..be fired!!..yep..no question about it...eom

[muntrv]

6. Better yet, draft Iraqi war supporters into the army.

:evilgrin: