I ran into this memo quite by accident, skimming through Digg earlier today. It's an incredible memo, written by a very partisan Republican lawyer. Two things strike me: (1) The U.S. mainstream media seem to have almost entirely overlooked this story, and (2) Things in Iraq are going quite badly.
It pulls no punches. The general assessment:
After a year at the Embassy, it is my general assessment that the State Department and the Foreign Service is not competent to do the job that they have undertaken in Iraq.
Yow! It's a 10-page memo, but it's a pretty easy read. Miranda is quite unhappy with the management and bureaucracy of the State Department.
Some burning quotes:
The American people would be scandalized to know that throughout the Winter, Spring, and Summer of 2007, even while our Congress debated the Iraq question, and whether to commit more troops and more funds, the Embassy was largely consumed in successive internal reorganizations...
How about this scorcher?
I would venture to say that if the management of the Embassy and the State Department's Iraq operation were judged by rules that govern business judgment and asset waste in the private sector, the delays, indecisions, and reorganizations over the past year, would be considered willfully negligent, if not criminal.
Things seem not to be going well in the house of Crocker.
Equally incredible, to me, anyway, was the little coverage this story got. It was covered by ABC news, and the AP has a link also. I just never saw it in a newspaper.
The story was covered, however, in Iran and in Kazakhstan. Sheesh.