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Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012
Our embassy in Iraq is an embarrassment of riches we cannot afford
Last week a headline in The New York Times stated: “U.S. Planning to Slash Iraq Embassy Staff by as Much as Half.”
The word “infuriating” doesn’t quite capture it.
According to the article, “The expansive diplomatic operation and the $750 million embassy building, the largest of its kind in the world, were billed as necessary … . But the Americans have been frustrated by what they see as Iraqi obstructionism and are now largely confined to the embassy because of security concerns, unable to … justify the $6 billion annual price tag.”
The Times offered a dozen photographs of the embassy. Gold plating doesn’t begin to describe it.
But then it was lamented that: “After the American troops departed in December, life became more difficult for the thousands of diplomats and contractors left behind. … Within days, the salad bar at the embassy dining hall ran low. Sometimes there was no sugar or Splenda for coffee. … Over the holidays, housing units were stocked with Meals Ready to Eat, the prepared food for soldiers in the field.”
Oh, the horror of it all. Slumming Department of State employees forced to eat food intended for soldiers in the field.
In the face of this insane prodigality and utter waste, Ron Paul remains the only presidential candidate who believes this garrisoned embassy to be a stunningly fatuous symbol of our precarious, bipartisan foreign policy. Some may think Paul’s jeremiads “radical.” And they’re right, in the sense that the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah’s were.
Was the chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff “radical” when he cautioned that our biggest national defense problem is the debt?
Was U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., “radical” when he warned that “If we spread ourselves too thin around the world we’re not going to be able to defend the homeland”?
One hopes the architects of the palatial Baghdad embassy remembered to place a heliport on its roof, a la Saigon. One never knows when the staff might require evacuation due to “local unrest.”
Will we ever learn?
CHARLIE MACKEY CLARK
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Our embassy in Iraq is an embarrassment of riches we cannot afford
Last week a headline in The New York Times stated: “U.S. Planning to Slash Iraq Embassy Staff by as Much as Half.”
The word “infuriating” doesn’t quite capture it.
According to the article, “The expansive diplomatic operation and the $750 million embassy building, the largest of its kind in the world, were billed as necessary … . But the Americans have been frustrated by what they see as Iraqi obstructionism and are now largely confined to the embassy because of security concerns, unable to … justify the $6 billion annual price tag.”
The Times offered a dozen photographs of the embassy. Gold plating doesn’t begin to describe it.
But then it was lamented that: “After the American troops departed in December, life became more difficult for the thousands of diplomats and contractors left behind. … Within days, the salad bar at the embassy dining hall ran low. Sometimes there was no sugar or Splenda for coffee. … Over the holidays, housing units were stocked with Meals Ready to Eat, the prepared food for soldiers in the field.”
Oh, the horror of it all. Slumming Department of State employees forced to eat food intended for soldiers in the field.
In the face of this insane prodigality and utter waste, Ron Paul remains the only presidential candidate who believes this garrisoned embassy to be a stunningly fatuous symbol of our precarious, bipartisan foreign policy. Some may think Paul’s jeremiads “radical.” And they’re right, in the sense that the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah’s were.
Was the chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff “radical” when he cautioned that our biggest national defense problem is the debt?
Was U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., “radical” when he warned that “If we spread ourselves too thin around the world we’re not going to be able to defend the homeland”?
One hopes the architects of the palatial Baghdad embassy remembered to place a heliport on its roof, a la Saigon. One never knows when the staff might require evacuation due to “local unrest.”
Will we ever learn?
CHARLIE MACKEY CLARK
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
