U.S. backs down on envoys
WASHINGTON - The State Department is backing down from forcing diplomats to serve in Iraq this summer because enough have volunteered to work in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and in outlying provinces, officials said Thursday.
Three Foreign Service officers who signed up for the last of the 48 vacancies have won tentative approval. Once personnel panels give a formal OK, the department will announce it will not need to enforce a plan for the forced assignments, the officials said Thursday.
That word could come today, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
But the policy of “directed assignments” could go back into force if the current crop of volunteers does not pan out. “We’re reserving the option,” department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Officials also said the department may have to resort to such a measure in the future.
“We believe we are close to having all the jobs filled by volunteers. We are down to the low single digits, and that is very positive,” McCormack said. “That doesn’t mean the policy has changed.”
Officials indicated this week that a forced call-up might not be necessary after volunteers cut the number of vacant posts to 11 by Tuesday. All were filled by Thursday, with only the final screening for the last three spots pending, they said.
The announcement will be a major relief for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the department’s senior management. They had struggled to quell a revolt among diplomats who questioned the ethics of ordering unarmed civilians into a war zone under penalty of dismissal.
Three Foreign Service personnel - two diplomatic security agents and one political officer - have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
The officials said Rice had intended to go ahead with that policy if not enough diplomats had volunteered.
The prospect of the largest diplomatic call-up since Vietnam had caused an uproar among the 11,500-member Foreign Service. At a contentious town-hall meeting this month, the strength of their opposition came into public view as some diplomats protested the forced assignments, citing safety and security concerns.
The complaints were a deep embarrassment to the department and led Rice and her deputy, John Negroponte, to remind diplomats of their duty.
More than 1,500 diplomats have volunteered to work in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.