This doesn’t have anything to do with World of Warcraft. Please, if you are here to read about WoW, and are NOT interested in American government, or my opinion of it, then pass this one by.
If you do read this, at least know up front this isn’t going to be about democrats or republicans or presidential races or any of that stuff. However, it DOES concern the State Department, and our diplomats’ attitudes towards serving in Iraq. Notice I said diplomat, not politician.
If you’d prefer, just wait a little bit, let me get this off my chest, and I’ll have a much larger in-depth post on Druid Idols to inform and entertain with later this morning! Okay?
I woke up this morning pretty happy…. until I opened up my Yahoo news. Hey, I always check the news in the morning. You never know, a meteor might have struck Paris. (Nope, still nothing).
What do my eyes spy, but the lovely little headline, “Iraq assignments upset some diplomats“.
Now, that title intrigued me. It was a grabber, as intended. My imagination naturally took over. What assignments? How upset? Upset at what? Are diplomats upset at orders they’ve been given as to how to represent American interests to Iraq? Are they upset at having to be nice to the Iraqi government while American troops continue to work hard at great risk of life and limb in the region? Maybe they are upset at driving forward the goals of a President or Congress which they might not agree with.
So I read the article. It would have been more amusing to move on, speculating about the news without actually finding out more, but what can I say? I’m just the kind of guy that wants to know more.
I do always try to keep in mind that there was a real person out there on deadline, trying to make money, that wrote this article, so the facts presented may be correct, exaggerated, only part of the truth, or completely fabricated. So I’ll read the opinions and slant with a cynical eye, but I’ll be paying close attention to what someone is actually quoted as saying, in public, that can be easily verified. In this, I share many of the same opinions about news agencies that John Ringo seems to hold when you read his books or articles.
The gist of this article was that a large number of Foreign Service diplomats working for the State Department, presumably flunkies, were outraged that they MAY be ordered to serve at the American Embassy in Iraq.
They had an ‘hour long’ town hall meeting with Foreign Service Director General Harry Thomas specifically to talk about it.
Okay, the first thought I have, skimming over the inflammatory sections… what are they being told to DO, exactly?
It looks to me like the Foreign Service diplomatic core was informed last week that, IF enough of them did not volunteer to fill diplomatic posts that would soon open in the American Embassy to Iraq, located in Baghdad, that SOME of them would be ordered to go to fill those vacant posts and get the job done. The alternative wold be for the State Department to leave these diplomatic positions empty. In the American Embassy in Iraq. During a war. WTF?
Okay, the concept of hardship posts are certainly not knew. Are there special forms of compensation for diplomats if you volunteer? Why, yes there are. To quote the article, volunteers to serve in the Embassy in Iraq receive “extra hardship pay, vacation time and choice of future assignments”.
Well shoot, will those ordered to go to fill those vacancies also get those incentives? Cause that might be why they’re pissed. Well, apparently, yes. Yes they will receive the same compensations that the volunteers do. (And if I were a volunteer, that would royally piss me off.)
Well, is the mission important? I don’t know, let’s think about that one. To quote State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, “Ultimately, our mission in Iraq is national policy, it is the foreign policy set out by the secretary as well as the president of the United States.”
Now, the last I had heard, there are a lot of American service men and women serving in Iraq. Right now. Working hard to achieve objectives supposedly developed by our government while working closely together with the Iraqi government.
I would personally say that I cannot imagine, at this one moment in time, a more important place for an American Foreign Service diplomat to be stationed during this time of crisis. And make no mistake, when American service men and women are fighting a war in a foreign land, I define that as a ‘time of crisis’.
So far, in reading over the article, I have yet to find any valid reason why the Foreign Service diplomats are so upset about maybe being ordered to go that a town hall meeting had to be held. So maybe the reasons aren’t factual, but emotional. So now I focus in on what, specifically, was said.
Jack Croddy, a ’senior foreign service officer’, confronted Foreign Service Director General Harry Thomas in the meeting, and said, “It’s one thing if someone believes in what’s going on over there and volunteers, but it’s another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment. I’m sorry, but basically that’s a potential death sentence and you know it. Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?”
To further quote the article, “Croddy’s remarks were met with loud and sustained applause from the approximately 300 diplomats at the meeting.”
Wow. Okay, damn, I had no idea that the Foreign Service was in such danger, and had suffered casualties. Now I feel bad. After all, our American service men and women are also suffering terrible casualties every damn day, why would I think the diplomats were immune to this? I guess I had believed from my own experiences that Foreign Service diplomats were isolated to an Embassy compound, under the direct security of the U.S. Marine Corps, when stationed in hazardous postings.
And then I read further, and I saw, “No U.S. diplomats have been killed in Iraq, although the security situation is precarious.”
I just can’t help but think about this whole situation. The State Department is seeking volunteers from within it’s ranks to fill vacant posts within the American Embassy to Iraq, as well as posts to work in outlying areas of Iraq to try and rebuild the infrastructure and establish a lasting framework for some kind of peace. To try and fill these vacancies in what is arguably the most important foreign post in our time of crisis, the State Department is offering various incentives to make the posting more attractive. They still haven’t received enough volunteers, so they announced that if necessary they would order diplomats to the posts, under threat of dismissal from Foreign Service if they refused.
And the response from the majority of the diplomatic core, given under rousing applause, was the impassioned, emotional plea, “I’m sorry, but basically that’s a potential death sentence and you know it. Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?”
That’s it. That’s it? And they are under threat of dismissal, not court martial charges if they don’t go? Well, are they just employees? Is it just a job?
Oh, wait, no, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack had stressed that all diplomats sign an oath to serve, obligating them to be available to work anywhere.
So here’s my damn spin on this. It’s not just that these worthless bastards are cowards, they are also preparing to be oathbreakers. They apparently want to serve America, as long as serving means going where they want, doing what they want, and accumulating personal power, wealth and prestige. Damn their oaths, and damn the needs of the country in a time of war.
Hey, that attitude on their part does not come as a shock to me, nor does it change my opinion of any politician or diplomat anywhere. It certainly does not surprise me, and I’m far too cynical to get outraged at mere confirmation that a part of my own beliefs are shown to be true.
But if they were out for themselves, they never should have signed an oath to serve. If the State Department is nice enough to give them the choice to either serve as they swore to do, or QUIT and be unemployed, then fine, they should shut up and make their choice.
But how DARE they imply that their importance to their families is somehow MORE VALUABLE than the lives of ANY serving service man or woman is to THIER family? how DARE they? “Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?” HOW FUCKING DARE THEY????
That question is JUST as valid for every single citizen of the United States of America, whether in the military or not, who is serving in ANY hazardous environment in fulfillment of their duty. And yet, whether you agree with the decision to send them there or not, THEY WENT. And they are performing their duties to the best of their abilities, and they don’t get to look forward to special compensations. If those worthless Foreign Service pricks seriously think that they are the first ones to worry what will happen to their families if something happens to them, then they are bat shit INSANE!
This just reeks of the attitude that “We are better than the rabble, and our families are more important that theirs, and we deserve consideration and special treatment and they don’t. We should be allowed to keep our positions, without threat of dismissal, should we be asked to do anything we don’t like. Our wants, needs and desires come first, and our service to this nation, and faithfulness to our oaths, comes dead last.”
There ya go. That there is my rant. I really apologise if you read this far and hoped for some insight, some witty statement or something. I’m fresh out. But I started this really pissed, and now I’m all calm and happy again. Now, to go get back to work, and try and get into the right frame of mind to write a happy WoW related blog post. I know I gots’ me one in there somewheres.
Sigh.
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