An Ultimate Irony: Bush must Draft Diplomats to staff his Monument to Middle east Democracy Success in his hell on earth!
I have to laugh! What happened to "No Draft" I can only hope the Politicians are sending a message to our soldiers. The State Department says it will require some diplomats to serve in Iraq because of a lack of volunteers willing to work at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Beginning Monday, 200 to 300 diplomats will be notified 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 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 Friday. He said those being sent to Iraq will receive extra pay and vacation time. About 50 diplomats will be needed in Iraq by January, in addition to 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. Read the entire story
Can you blame them? That is the Alamo of the middle east! Let me give you a little History of Bush's monument to his successful democratization of the middle east. As we discussed a year ago The Bush administration designed new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will be the world's largest and most expensive foreign mission. The 104-acre compound is in what today is a war zone that will only get worse. I don't get it, We cannot even secure the Green Zone and Bush is constructing this boondoggle that is supposed to be the seat of his Democratic "successes" in the middle east.
Back then it was for a cost of $592 million dollars to highlight failure? First I had to ask, who are the contractors benefiting from this Boondoggle? People are bummed out about having to live in the Green Zone. What kind of embassy is it when everybody lives inside and it's blast-proof, and people are running around with helmets and crouching behind sandbags?"
The compound will have secure apartments for about 615 people. The comfortable but not opulent one-bedrooms have offered hope for State Department staff now doubled up in tinny trailers. Morale is already at an ebb among the embassy staff, most of whom rarely leave the heavily fortified Green Zone during their one-year tours in Iraq. The barricaded zone houses both the current, makeshift U.S. Embassy and the new compound about a mile away.
We also said There is no way Bush's forced, so called Democracies are going to succeed in the middle east. We have learned nothing! They cannot be forced, a Democracy must be wanted by the majority not the minority. I refuse to believe that we are spending that kind of money on a venture that has already failed as should have been expected from the get go. Bush has this on schedule to be completed before he leaves. What a coincidence. That Embassy will be nothing but a target and a white elephant as Bush's failed endeavors in the middle east are. Nothing will change that!
Then on June 1st we updated the discussion because the Boondoggle in Hell was purposely compromised Proving that it's not easy to make anything in Iraq secure, the security of the new U.S. embassy under construction in Baghdad has been compromised. The building plans were published on the Internet. The project will be the United States' largest diplomatic mission and Security for people within the sensitive facility is compromised with the publication of computer-generated plans of the nearly complete fortified compound.
Ten detailed images of the plans for the compound appeared on the Web site of the U.S. architect for the project, Berger Devine Yaeger Inc. The images included the overall layout of the compound along with individual buildings. Those buildings included the embassy, office annexes, the Marine Corps security post, swimming pool, recreation center and the ambassador's and deputy ambassador's residences.
Yaeger maintains that no real damage was done because it says the images were not that detailed. Besides that, company officials say that people will eventually figure out where everything in the embassy compound is anyway. Read about the compromised Embassy
I mean come on, we didn't build it under top security for nothing. Oh I guess we did like everything else! Well, after four years we have not been able to get anything accomplished in Iraq. Every single success Bush has bragged about in bring back Iraq's societal infrastructure has been summarily destroyed by one faction or the other.
Now we know the so called monument to middle east Democracies is up to 3/4 of a Billion dollars in cost and a year behind schedule. The Vatican-sized compound, which will be the world's largest diplomatic mission, has been beset by construction and logistical problems. "They are substantially behind at this point," and it would be surprising if any offices or living quarters could be occupied before the end of the year, one official told The Associated Press. Problems identified so far are related to the complex's physical plant, including electrical systems, and do not pose a security risk, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Read the whole story embassy compound delayed
Gee why wouldn't anyone want to go there? I can only laugh at the irony of all this. All those American and Iraqi lives for Bush's failed middle east Democratization and Bush can't even get Diplomats to staff his Monument to the failed process and must Draft them. I wish our brave soldiers would refuse to serve there then Bush would not be able to prosecute these wars that are still just beginning.
James Joiner
Gardner Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com