Forced to Iraq? 'Get Over It,' Diplomat Says
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, November 07, 2007 | 09:53 AM
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, November 07, 2007 | 09:53 AM
The debate over potential forced reassignments of Foreign Service officers to Iraq has spilled over into Dipnote, the State Department's new blog. Yesterday, Dipnote posted an entry called "A Letter From Iraq to My Overwrought Colleagues" by John Matel, a career Foreign Service officer who leads the Provincial Reconstruction Team embedded in Al Asad in Al Anbar Province.
"Take a deep breath and calm down," wrote Matel. "I have been here for a while now, and you may have been misinformed about life at a PRT."
The "wailing and gnashing of teeth" about Iraq being a "death sentence" is "just way over the top," Matel said.
"We all know that few FSOs will REALLY be forced to come to Iraq anyway," he added. "Our system really does not work like that. This sound and fury at Foggy Bottom truly signifies nothing. Get over it! I do not think many Americans feel sorry for us and it is embarrassing for people with our privileges to paint ourselves as victims."
Comments
Kathy you need to look at your employment contract, by signing on to State you "DID "agree to be sent to any duty station so my recommendation is to leave.
dan ketter | Thursday, November 08, 2007 | 10:54 AMAll federal employees take an oath to support and defend the Constitution. That does mean we agree to bear arms. And it does not mean we support being sent to any duty station. Some federal employees will leave their current job rather than be posted to DC; some federal employees will leave their current job rather than be posted to Iraq. We still have choices.
Kathy Howard | Thursday, November 08, 2007 | 09:40 AMAll federal employees take an oath, and while the Foreign Service is not a branch of the military, it is certainly a "service" that directly represents the United States to the rest of the world. It is obvious that Mr. Matel takes his oath a bit more seriously than some of his colleagues.
Bruce Rodman | Thursday, November 08, 2007 | 08:53 AMMatel is spot on... We have an earlier article trying to expand State by another 1000 people and all we have now are a bunch of cowards and crybabies. Before we add folks the current issue needs to be dealt with and eliminate the malcontents
dan ketter | Wednesday, November 07, 2007 | 01:18 PMABOUT THIS BLOG
Government Executive Editor Tom Shoop takes a look at news and events affecting the federal bureaucracy, from the perspective of a longtime observer of government.
feedARCHIVES
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
CATEGORIES
- Budget
- Comings and Goings
- Congress
- Defense
- Factoid of the Day
- Fedblog
- General News
- Government Operations
- Headline of the Day
- Homeland Security
- Intelligence
- Management
- Oversight
- Pay and Benefits
- Photo of the Day
- Political Appointees
- Press Release of the Day
- Procurement
- Quote of the Day
- The White House
- The Workforce
- The Workplace