Rice ORDERS That Diplomatic Jobs in Iraq Be Filled First

[babylonsister]

Where are the Regent U. grads when you need 'em?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002294.html?hpid=topnews

Rice Orders That Diplomatic Jobs in Iraq Be Filled First

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A11

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered this week that U.S. diplomatic positions in Iraq must be filled before any other State Department openings in Washington or overseas are made available, raising the possibility that soon the agency will be forced to order its employees to serve in Iraq.

"It is my fervent hope that we will continue to see sufficient numbers of Foreign Service and Civil Service employees volunteering for Iraq service, but we must be prepared to meet our requirements in any eventuality," Rice said in a message to employees.

The move to fill Iraq jobs first, which Rice called "unprecedented" in the cable, represents a further tightening of the rules for filling jobs at the State Department because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last summer, Rice ordered that hardship posts -- including those in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots -- should be filled before other jobs.

Rice's message was sent more than two weeks after Ryan C. Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, sent her a cable with an urgent plea for more and better staffers. "Simply put, we cannot do the nation's most important work if we do not have the Department's best people," Crocker said in a May 31 cable disclosed by The Washington Post this week.

more...

[whistle]

1. Is that for the positions in the $592 million Baghdad Embassy building

...the one which will be bombed when it opens?

<snip>
Giant U.S. embassy rising in Baghdad
Posted 4/19/2006 12:51 AM ET
by Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY

Three years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, only one major U.S. building project in Iraq is on schedule and within budget: the massive new American embassy compound.
The $592 million facility is being built inside the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of a Kuwaiti contractor, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. Construction materials have been stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq's roads.

"We are confident the embassy will be completed according to schedule (by June 2007) and on budget," said Justin Higgins, a State Department spokesman.

The same cannot be said for major projects serving Iraqis outside the Green Zone, the Senate report said. Many — including health clinics, water-treatment facilities and electrical plants — have had to be scaled back or in some cases eliminated because of the rising costs of securing worksites and workers.

"No large-scale, U.S.-funded construction program in Iraq has yet met its schedule or budget," the committee report said.
<MORE>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-04-19-us-embassy_x.htm

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. Nah, it's not going to be bombed.

At that price its GOT to include a force field shield over the entire facility. Mortars and missiles will detonate harmlessly above it.

[Botany]

2. Gee Condi .... nobody wants to go to Iraq, huh?

With attacks inside the Green Zone becoming a daily occurance no doubt
people really want to go and work there.

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Hiring nothing but good Bushies is starting to take it's toll...

The Bushies they already sent were too stupid to do the jobs.(The Brownie Syndrome)

[peacebird]

4. PLEASE Condi - hire LOTS of "good bushies" for the embassy in Iraq!

Please DO! :evilgrin:

In fact ONLY hire good bushies for the embassy in Iraq... Lots and lots of them. As many as you can squeeze in!

:evilgrin:

[Hubert Flottz]

5. RIGHT!

Run 3 shifts!

[Ezlivin]

6. Do they each get free DragonSkin armor and a sidearm?

The key to the benefits program is living to claim them.