WASHINGTON , Oct. 26, 2007
State Dept.: Go To Iraq Or You're Fired
Due To Lack Of Volunteers, State Department Ordering Some Employees To Baghdad Embassy
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The State Department will require some diplomats to serve in Iraq because of a lack of volunteers willing to work at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. (AP / CBS)
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Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
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Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
Beginning Monday, 200 to 300 diplomats will be notified that they have been identified as “prime candidates” to fill 40 to 50 vacancies that will open next year at the embassy, said Harry Thomas, director general of the Foreign Service.
Those notified that they have been selected for a one-year posting will have 10 days to respond. Only those with compelling reasons, such as a medical condition, will be excused from duty, Thomas said.
He said those being sent to Iraq will receive extra pay and vacation time. About 50 diplomats will be needed in Iraq by January over the current level of 200.
However, those refusing Iraq duty may face disciplinary action up to and including dismissal for failing to uphold their oath to serve the United States and the Constitution, Thomas said.
“If someone decides that they do not want to go, we will then consider our options,” he told reporters in a conference call. “We have many options, including dismissal from the Foreign Service.”
All U.S. diplomats were being informed of the step in a cable from Thomas. The decision to move to so-called directed assignments is rare but not unprecedented.
In 1969, an entire class of entry-level diplomats was sent to serve in Vietnam, and on a smaller scale, diplomats were forcibly assigned to work at embassies in West Africa in the 1970s and 1980s.
In Other Developments:
revert to Iraqi control, despite U.S. President George W. Bush's prediction in January that the Iraqi government would have responsibility for security in all of the provinces by November.
workers. Two police officers and two women were among the wounded, the
officials said.
Fast Fact
Those refusing Iraq duty may face disciplinary action up to and including dismissal for failing to uphold their oath to serve the United States and the Constitution.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 366 CommentsBashar Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looking for spider holes hahaha
WE will have diplomats that are willing to go in there, popular or not.
They are evidence that the whole country has not gone Bush Bonkers.
These are the ones who may be willing to "give peace a chance" and WE should give them their due-- instead of making it out as if they are caving in to threats from Bush and his administration.
These can be heros-- not automatic dupes, according to the spinning press-- or a single "reporter".
I don''t get the spin that its somehow un-cool, in this article.
Lots of jobs are hard...
And NO, I don''t mean every diplomat should be tickled to be there.
Iraq isnt that bad. The surge is working pretty good thanks to GWB the greatest terrorist hunter in history and gen. Petraeus.
If i was a state dept. employee id be more afraid to live in NYC,LA,Washington or Chicago than in Baghdad.
There are more people dying in those cities than in Iraq.
Long time since I''ve posted here, How ya been?
See you tomorrow.
this movement to men in Iraqi suits versus carrying arms may be the path to eventual peace. Who knows as we have not done this before.
For the average Iraqi, less killing, more electricity, water and public services and growth in the Iraqi economy will give them something of value they will not want to lose.
This is better than killing.
U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker warned a few days ago that elements of the Mahdi Army have forsaken military activities in favor of financial enterprises such as control of gas stations and basic services in Shiite neighborhoods.
The move suggests what Crocker called a "Hezbollahzation" of parts of Iraq, a reference to an emphasis on social networks as a base of strength that has been the hallmark of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The predicament for the Americans is that any effort to curtail that process can cost them support in the street. In many Shiite areas people both welcome and rely on the social work of the Mahdi Army for services and help the government does not provide.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/27/notebook/main3419320.shtml
In northern Iraq, clashes broke out between al-Qaida in Iraq fighters and a rival Sunni group near the volatile city of Samarra, and police said some 16 militants were killed.
The fighting broke out after calls from local mosque imams to expel al-Qaida from the area, labeling them as %u201Cfalse mujahedeen%u201D or false holy warriors, according to a provincial police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn%u2019t authorized to release the information.
Very simple answer speakinup....Hillary has brains wheras Bush has none.
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