Postings to Iraq Upset Diplomats

AP ^ | 10-31-2007 | By MATTHEW LEE

[johnny7]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several hundred U.S. diplomats vented anger and frustration Wednesday about the State Department's decision to force foreign service officers to take jobs in Iraq, with some likening it to a "potential death sentence."

[johnny7]

[SolidWood]

Unbelievable. It is a long known that the State Department and Diplomats in general are pantsies and sissies, but this utter cowardice is incredible. The troops over there don’t complain when deployed. (Well except the handful traitors running to Canada to avoid service.)

[Southack]

Send every last State Dept employee there (or to Afghanistan, or to Somalia).

Treason against the U.S. will be cut in half.

[Doctor Raoul]

Maybe now State will stop stabbing the armed forces in the back because it will be State Dept people that will be the chickens coming home to roost is a place they can't handle.

And most are libs that hate Blackwater, the people assigned to protect them.

[pissant]

Fire them.

[SolidWood]

Allegra, you have to read this!

[darkwing104]

Karma...

[RichInOC]

“Thou hast not to like it-thou hast just to do it.”

—Richard Marcinko, Sixth Commandment of SpecWar

[steve8714]

They have a union; you can though give them the most undesirable assignments in third world shitholes.

[TexanToTheCore]

Fire the pansies.

What panty-waists......

[airborne]

You got it!

Fire them !!!!

[CholeraJoe]

Meet ‘em at the airport and hand out socks and crying towels, Allegra. You’ve been there what four years?

[True Republican Patriot]

Where Oh Where is that POS Joe Wilson? remember he was the so-called Ambassador in Iraq after only he was left in the first Gulf War?

[pnh102]

The troops over there don’t complain when deployed.

Our troops also do not have the option of simply quitting and finding a new job if they do not like their current line of work either. These whiners do.

[Ancient Drive]

I cannot believe these Diplomats are behaving in this manner. time to truly earn your money. bunch of cowards.

[No Truce With Kings]

Everyone together now:

one . . .

two . . .

three . . .

Awwwwwwwww. Poor babies.

(There - ya got your sympathy. Now get to work. In Iraq. . . . and quit whining.)

[mort56]

Isn’t about time we clean up State? Did they all think they were destined for postings in Paris or London?

Where the rubber meets the road, you will only find the DOD! As for their whinning...give those screaming the loudest the boot!

[padre35]

Du mon nheiu to all of those light heeled bespoke State Dept ‘Crats.

Hmm, it could be fun, lots of sunshine, beaches down on the Tigris, I would bet that these folks would turn into Hobbits for their 1 or 2 year stays in the Friendly Confines of Baghdad.

[pnh102]

I cannot believe these Diplomats are behaving in this manner.

Really?

[pissant]

And kick them in the a** on the way out the door.

[Joan Kerrey]

diplomats vented anger and frustration Wednesday about the State Department’s decision to force foreign service officers to take jobs in Iraq, with some likening it to a “potential death sentence.”

---

Could be payback time and cleanup time. I don’t see a problem here...heh,heh,heh!!!

[sitkaspruce]

Fire anyone of them who refuses to go. They volunteered to be diplomats. Sucks to have an assignment outside of the Green Zone where they may not have cold drinks and swimming pools.

[Blue State Insurgent]

Send me.

[JimSEA]

Give me the pay and benefits of the State Department and Blackwater to protect me and I’ll happily go. This is just anti-Americanism by the people at State.

[Allegra]

Meet ‘em at the airport and hand out socks and crying towels, Allegra. You’ve been there what four years?

Four years come January '08.

I've seen fire and I've seen rain.

I've seen war and now...I'm seeing the beginning of peace. Yes, peace is breaking out in Iraq. (What?? The media isn't talking about this back home???)

What an amazing journey and an absolute life affirming experience.

And what a bunch of weinies those loafer-wearing, latte-sipping, Blackberry-addicted State Department people are.

[Enterprise]

"He also stressed that all diplomats sign an oath to serve the country that obligates them to be available to work anywhere in the world."

That must be the problem. They didn't understand what they signed. (Hee hee hee)

[Allegra]

diplomats vented anger and frustration Wednesday about the State Department's decision to force foreign service officers to take jobs in Iraq, with some likening it to a "potential death sentence."

Oh, quit your freakin' whining, you bunch of State Department snots. "Potential death sentence." Please. What a gaggle of drama queens.

[airborne]

I’m sure that with all of their ‘people skills’ they’ll be able to find jobs at McDonalds or Burger King with very little trouble.

[Reaganesque]

Time to clean out the State Department. Fire them all and start over again. “Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

[pissant]

I doubt they are qualified for any real labor such as burger flipping. Used Car salesmen, perhaps.

[Leisler]

STATE DEPARTMENT UNION HEAD RESPONDS TO FORCED IRAQ POSTINGS

"I'm not going and you can't make me!"

[Leisler]

OFFICIAL CLOTHES SUPPLIER TO UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC CORPS.

[Allegra]

"Incoming is coming in every day, rockets are hitting the Green Zone," said one who identified himself as Jack Crotty, a senior foreign service officer who once worked as a political adviser with NATO forces.

Oh, give me a break! Incoming is not coming into the Green Zone these days! I just had a serve a few days' sentence in the Green Zone for meetings. There hasn't been a hit on the place in months.

"I would just urge you, now that now we are looking at compulsory service in a war zone, that we have a moral imperative as an agency to take care of people who ... come back with war wounds," said Rachel Schnelling...

Oh, cry me a freakin' RIVER! Almost everybody comes back from Iraq with no "war wounds." I've never seen such a bunch of whiny drama queens in my life.

[CPOSharky]

I was at a military exchage in Germany and was told that as retired military I couldn’t shop there. I asked about the obviously non-military 20-something type shopping and was told he was State Department.

Send them to Iraq, they can use the exchanges to buy their crying towels.

[kabar]

As a are retired foreign service officer who served in hardship and danger posts, including in Iran during the fall of the Shah and the arrival of Khomeini, I am ashamed of such a response from many of my former colleagues. Many foreign service officers have lost their lives in the service of their country. The current crop dishonors their memory.

Part of the problem is that many FSOs today have never served in the military. I am a Vietnam vet with 8 years of military service and most of the FSOs I served with when I entered in 1972 had military service. They understood that their job could involve being exposed to dangerous situations. Since the end of WWII, more ambassadors have been killed in the line of duty than generals. Our embassies have been blown up around the globe and many US diplomats killed or injured. This sounds more like a political statement than anything else. Shame.

[Sudetenland]

Department of State has always been a fifth column organization. Bunch of know-it-all elitist who have very little to feel elite about.

[JohnBovenmyer]

This is a Reagan vs. the Aircraft Controllers union opportunity. Everyone who refuses to go and gets fired will be one less anti-American leaker at Foggy Bottom. The only questions should be how many do we need to fire (I fear that 88-12 split may be meaningful), how quickly we can replace then with pro-American types and how few we can get by with during the transition. Ideally we get someone like Bolton to suggest whom we want to send as a way of purging them.

[Doctor Raoul]

The State department recruiters lied to them.

[skinkinthegrass]

...As long as these liberal "Government bureaucrats(State/CIA)" were safe/cozy and @ home, these "bureaucrats" turned traitor on GWB, now they’re being placed in positions, where there is real danger......maybe now they’ll start doing their jobs...if not, then they should be fired.

[section9]

There was only so much that Condi could do to change the Department. Bush is deeply unpopular at State and Rice is seen as "Bush's Secretary". They pine for a Clinton Restoration, and Iraq is seen as "Bush's War". There are a lot of people here who don't understand that. DOS never supported the GWOT, even under Powell. It's a Clintonite outpost.

Don't blame Condi for this. Hell, she's the one who instituted the draft and has tried to push some necessary reforms, such as moving people out of Paris and Berlin and moving them to Calcutta and Bangkok.

If Fred or Rudy become President, there are those in the Department who will positively die.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[skinkinthegrass]

Give me the pay and benefits of the State Department and Blackwater to protect me and I’ll happily go. This is just anti-Americanism by the people at State....

same here, I'll even carry weapons and pass the ammo, too. :D

[Jacquerie]

It's one thing if someone believes in what's going on over there and volunteers . . .

That one phrase speaks so much to what is wrong with the petty independent kingdom known as the US State Department.

[skinkinthegrass]

thank you...for your honorable service....not these "people"

[skinkinthegrass]

thank you...for your honorable service....not these "people"

[maica]

During the 2004 presidential campaign a group known as Democrats Abroad campaigned heavily for Kerry. I was convinced that most of the members of that group were state dept employees and members of various ngos. Of course, no ‘news’ agency ever investigated that group because they were probably participants if they lived abroad.

For example, the Tehran Times ran regular articles and letters to the editor in praise of Kerry. How many private industry Americans live and work in Iran?

[BobS]

Somebody else said that most of the deaths this month are from accidents. You can't haul big machinery and aircraft around flight lines without paying attention.

Yesterday the 405 in the Sepulveda Pass was closed because a crane jack-knifed and burned. The guy died. 8 lanes of traffic shut down. They spent all day cutting it up with high pressure oxy-acet torches. It looked like a cheap crane to start with. To do a job correctly, you hire a 180 ton crane from Ventura that needs an escort. 16 Big tires and 2 guys driving that. It is bigger than 4 tanks. Come back to tell us what you saw. You may want to stay there rather than here.

[kabar]

Please be advised that the jobs have been filled with volunteers since 2003 and that, "State has filled about 80 percent of next year’s vacancies in Iraq but has 48 remaining. If those positions aren’t filled voluntarily by Nov. 12, the department will begin making directed assignments, Harry Thomas, director general of the Foreign Service, announced Oct. 27."

It is not fair to damn everyone when it is a relatively small minority that is unwilling to serve voluntarily.

[Enchante]

IIRC they only select about 1% of applicants for entry into the foreign service, so in the past people have been lined up a long way for the opportunity to pursue this career......... maybe this is a great time for some housecleaning in the State Dept. and we can find people who really want to serve their country ..... more than they care about sipping Sauvignon Blanc at EU cocktail parties.

This could be a great career opening for current and ex-military people who want a new challenge, want to switch gears to a different form of service to their country, etc. We can start by booting a few hundred Ivy Leaguers from their cushy careers and replacing them with military types who know something about patriotism, work, hardship, and fortitude!!

[Argus]

Reminds that when George Shultz took over as Secretary of State he’d call in this ambassador and that consul and ask them to point to “their country” on the map and they’d invariably point to France or Venezuela or China or whatever country they were assigned to. Then Schultz would stop them, slap a palm on the US of A, and say “No - THIS is your country.”

[SuziQ]

some likening it to a "potential death sentence."

Just how many American diplomats have been killed there since 2003?