Republican to State Dept: You have been Criminally Negligent
ABC news has posted a <a href="http://tinyurl.com/36xemu">confidential memo (pdf)</a> sent to the US embassy in Iraq from a <i>"long-time Republican operative"</i> who has served in Baghdad for the past year.
Manuel Miranda didn't hold back his thoughts in the memo to Ambassador Crocker and All Concerned (ALCON).
<blockquote>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, indecision, and reorganizations over the past year, would be considered willfully negligent if not criminal. </blockquote>
Much of the 10 page memo is in a similar vein. Here he diagnoses the Embassy with ADD:
<blockquote>The Embassy is also severely encumbered by the Foreign Service's built-in attention deficit disorder, with personnel and new leaders rotating out within a year or less. Incumbent in this constant personnel change is a startling failure to manage and retrieve information. The Embassy is consequently in a constant state of revisiting the same ground without the ability to retrieve information of past work and decisions. </blockquote>
While support for the Iraq adventure was rapidly going downhill in the US, apparently the embassy had different worries:
<blockquote>At the keystone moment that America's leaders and people were pained over the debate of our continued national sacrifice, the Baghdad Embassy was doing a bureaucratic imitation of the Keystone Cops, counting chairs and desks and reviewing decisions over and over again.</blockquote>
So what does the State Dept think about the memo? Tom Casey, the spokesman for the Department told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4263378">ABC news</a>:
<blockquote>"We think Ambassador Crocker and his team are doing a very good job under extremely challenging circumstances. We have great confidence in their ability to carry out their mission."</blockquote>
At least we'll know how many desks and chairs have been sacrificed for the mission.
Manuel Miranda didn't hold back his thoughts in the memo to Ambassador Crocker and All Concerned (ALCON).
<blockquote>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, indecision, and reorganizations over the past year, would be considered willfully negligent if not criminal. </blockquote>
Much of the 10 page memo is in a similar vein. Here he diagnoses the Embassy with ADD:
<blockquote>The Embassy is also severely encumbered by the Foreign Service's built-in attention deficit disorder, with personnel and new leaders rotating out within a year or less. Incumbent in this constant personnel change is a startling failure to manage and retrieve information. The Embassy is consequently in a constant state of revisiting the same ground without the ability to retrieve information of past work and decisions. </blockquote>
While support for the Iraq adventure was rapidly going downhill in the US, apparently the embassy had different worries:
<blockquote>At the keystone moment that America's leaders and people were pained over the debate of our continued national sacrifice, the Baghdad Embassy was doing a bureaucratic imitation of the Keystone Cops, counting chairs and desks and reviewing decisions over and over again.</blockquote>
So what does the State Dept think about the memo? Tom Casey, the spokesman for the Department told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=4263378">ABC news</a>:
<blockquote>"We think Ambassador Crocker and his team are doing a very good job under extremely challenging circumstances. We have great confidence in their ability to carry out their mission."</blockquote>
At least we'll know how many desks and chairs have been sacrificed for the mission.
