Foreign Service Officers Hit Back Against Bush

In an act of defiance, diplomats that serve in the State Department are taking issue with the Bush Administration for forcing them to work in Iraq or be fired. Enough is enough for our nation's diplomats. These skilled men and women are great at what they do, but being stationed in Iraq is as one diplomat calls it, "a death sentence."

From The Washington Post:

Uneasy U.S. diplomats yesterday challenged senior State Department officials in unusually blunt terms over a decision to order some of them to serve at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad or risk losing their jobs.

At a town hall meeting in the department's main auditorium attended by hundreds of Foreign Service officers, some of them criticized fundamental aspects of State's personnel policies in Iraq. They took issue with the size of the embassy -- the biggest in U.S. history -- and the inadequate training they received before being sent to serve in a war zone. One woman said she returned from a tour in Basra with post-traumatic stress disorder only to find that the State Department would not authorize medical treatment.

Yesterday's internal dissension came amid rising public doubts about diplomatic progress in Iraq and congressional inquiries into the department's spending on the embassy and its management of private security contractors. Some participants asked how diplomacy could be practiced when the embassy itself, inside the fortified Green Zone, is under frequent fire and officials can travel outside only under heavy guard.

Those that have been suckered into the military and forced to go to Iraq are defenseless against their superior's orders. Yet the State Department officials are not legally obligated to be shipped off to Iraq. For Bush Administration officials to play this card can potentially be a disaster. I'm sure these people love their jobs, but one's life is usually more important.

Besides, how are they expected to make any progress in a country that is clearly on a different path than what Foreign Service officials can walk on? This internal town hall was clearly a testament to the agency's disapproval of Bush's policies and especially for endangering their lives.