US twists civilian arms to fill its Fortress Baghdad

[donsu]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/002a7a18-9ebd-11db-ac03-0000779e2340.html

At the heart of George W. Bush's "new way forward" - which the president is expected to announce on Wednesday and involve substantial troop reinforcements - is the plan already under way to expand the US civilian presence across Iraq and complete the world's largest embassy in Baghdad

-snip-

US diplomats say that just as the armed forces are being stretched to breaking point, the US foreign service is suffering from low morale and operations in the rest of the world are being damaged by the diversion of resources to Iraq.

Officials are also questioning why the Bush administration is sending more civilians into a deteriorating war zone, and the effectiveness of the work they can do.

-snip-

Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, and other officials have repeatedly sent cables to personnel around the world saying diplomats have a patriotic duty to volunteer for Baghdad and the expanding "provincial reconstruction teams", where diplomats work out of military bases.

"Baghdad dwarfs everything else. It is becoming a monster that has to be fed every year with a new crop of volunteers," says one diplomat.

-snip-

Asked why the US was sending more diplomats into a war zone when such conditions elsewhere in the world would lead to closure or drawdown of embassies, the State Department said such comparisons were "inappropriate", noting the embassy had suffered "minimal casualties".
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how long will it stay "minimal casualties"?

[ClintonTyree]

1. Another facet of Bush's war that we weren't aware of.

Foreign Service people being stretched to the max as well and being "asked" to volunteer for a tour of duty in the most unsafe place on the planet. Yeah, people will be lining up for Foreign Service jobs in the future. Another way Bush is destroying out country, both from the inside out and the outside in. Heck-of-a-job, Bushie! :puke: