Of Diplomats and Men
Barnett, William Kristol, Dean
EDITORIAL Of Diplomats and Men On August 26, Al Qaeda in Iraq tried to abduct four American paratroopers on rooftop surveillance in Samarra. The plan seems to have been to hold the soldiers...
...They soon found themselves under attack from nearly 40 al Qaeda fi ghters...
...I’m sorry, but basically that’s a potential death sentence and you know it...
...How many other parts of the executive branch don’t believe we’re at war or are quietly refusing to help the war effort...
...government policy...
...What the next president owes them is a government that is organized from top to bottom to support their efforts, to win the war in Iraq and beyond...
...He was 22 years old...
...His administration was slow to beef up the military after 9/11, unwilling to revamp our intelligence and diplomatic establishments, and loath to give the American people a constructive way to assist the war effort beyond suggesting that they go shopping...
...His comrade, Tracy Willis, was 21...
...As the memorial plaques at the State Department attest, a long line of foreign service offi cers, from the 18th century down to the present day, have given their lives in service to their country...
...Is the State Department not also involved in fi ghting these brutal terrorists...
...Still, it’s a blemish on the president’s record that he has never been able to get the whole government apparatus to pitch in on the war effort, or even to stop certain factions from undermining it...
...At the same time, more State Department employees have been killed by al Qaeda and allied groups outside Iraq, in East Africa and Jordan and elsewhere, in recent years...
...Still: What has happened to any sense of decency and propriety when a senior foreign service offi cer can say such a thing in public...
...The Bush administration failed to insist on efforts throughout the government worthy of Sergeant Morley’s team and of all our troops in the fi eld...
...The two who did, Specialists Chris Corriveau and Eric Moser, killed between 10 and 15 al Qaeda in a desperate fi ght over 10 long minutes...
...government offi cials engaged in the conduct of the nation’s foreign policy...
...At the time of his death, Sergeant Morley was anticipating seeing his newborn daughter for the fi rst time...
...Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded...
...Are timidity and grievance-mongering appropriate for senior U.S...
...Not long after the Reaper team had its deadly engagement in Iraq, the State Department found itself enmeshed in a surprisingly intense internal dust-up...
...When George W. Bush is no longer a lightning rod, our nation will be grateful for the determination he showed in continuing the fi ght in Iraq long after most politicians would have declared victory and retreated...
...It seems that three State Department employees have died there since 2004, among some 1,500 who have served or are now serving in Iraq...
...It’s one thing if someone believes in what’s going on over there and volunteers, but it’s another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment,” Crotty carped...
...But there’s no denying that the management record of our fi rst MBA president leaves much to be desired...
...He was not wrong, but he bears some responsibility for this state of affairs...
...It’s certainly the prerogative of government employees not to “believe in what’s going on over there...
...We also know that parts of the Pentagon want to abandon Iraq so they can return to their preferred terrain of orderly rotations, procuring new hardware, and preparing for World War Whatever with China or some other great power...
...Do the foreign service officers in Washington feel no sense of solidarity, if not with our soldiers, at least with Ambassador Ryan Crocker and their colleagues serving in Baghdad...
...We know about the CIA leaks that have gushed from Langley the last few years with the express aim of wounding the administration...
...Last week, he complained that “some in Congress are behaving as if America is not at war...
...This announcement triggered an urgent State Department “town hall” meeting that took place October 31, where one Jack Crotty, a senior foreign service offi cer, spoke out...
...William Kristol and Dean Barnett...
...Not enough career diplomats at Foggy Bottom were volunteering to serve in Baghdad...
...The next president will inherit a situation in Iraq that will look much more promising than anyone thought possible a year ago...
...The plan seems to have been to hold the soldiers hostage and then behead them just as General David Petraeus was testifying before Congress...
...History will someday view President Bush’s steadfastness in pursuing an unpopular war, and his courage in (fi nally) fi nding the right generals and the right strategy, as an admirable example of presidential leadership...
...Does their sacrifi ce count for nothing...
...Serving in Iraq is hazardous duty...
...At great peril to himself, Specialist Moser didn’t let that happen...
...At one point, al Qaeda forces tried to grab Sergeant Morley’s body as a trophy...
...Showing an awareness of the American media that many political consultants would envy, al Qaeda hoped that the operation would become an Iraqi Tet, demoralizing Americans on the home front...
...Their mission was to monitor the roads below and prevent al Qaeda from planting IEDs to ambush their fellow members of Charlie Company as they made their way back from a mission...
...It is tempting but perhaps unfair to compare Crotty’s “death sentence” remark, and his resolve, with the actions of the men of Sergeant Morley’s Reaper Team...
...Do the foreign service offi - cers in Washington feel no sense of solidarity, if not with our soldiers, at least with Ambassador Ryan Crocker and their colleagues serving in Baghdad...
...To remedy this situation, the State Department announced its intention to assign some foreign service offi - cers to Baghdad, whether they volunteered or not...
...Crotty doesn’t speak for them or, we hope, for very many of his colleagues today...
...The latest numbers out of Iraq have confi rmed the extraordinary progress of recent months—the kind of progress that many, not only in the media and Congress, but also in the State Department and the Pentagon, all but insisted was impossible mere months ago...
...Three of the four soldiers al Qaeda tried to abduct were part of a “Reaper” team of the 82nd Airborne...
...But until they resign, they are still supposed to help carry out U.S...
...Or when the State Department countenances a meeting that invites such a public display of petulance...
...For this, we owe General Petraeus and hiscomradesin-arms an enormous debt, as we do Ambassador Crocker and his diplomatic team...
...Two of the men, team leader Sergeant Josh Morley and Specialist Tracy Willis, didn’t survive the attack...
...The fourth was a highly skilled sniper...
...According to Jeff Emanuel’s report of this episode in the November American Spectator, the four men were alone and isolated on their rooftop...
Vol. 13 • November 2007 • No. 9
