Happy Valentine’s Day from Iraq

February 14, 2012 // 2 Comments »

@LubnaNaji from Twitter sends us all Valentine’s wishes from Iraq. Bonus: See if you can spot the $63 billion spent on reconstruction there in the photo!





Also on Valentine’s Day in Iraq, gunmen assassinated an Iraqi army general in one of several incidents that left at least four people dead and 28 wounded.

Six people were injured in an explosion in al-Mashtal. Two suffered injuries in the al-Bayaa bombing
In addition, gunmen fired on a Health Ministry official in the al-Dora district of southern Baghdad.

In Mosul, about 220 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in the eastern part of the city, killing three people and wounding 19.

Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!

Posted in Democracy, Iraq

Sorry Aid and Reconstruction Workers, You’re a Target Now

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One of the used-to-be strengths of the United States’ foreign policy was a big tool box. We had the military of course, but in the right place at the right time the CIA, the State Department, charities and NGOs, each one doing something different. A smart leader could choose the right tool for the job.

The militarization of foreign policy since 9/11 has been a huge mistake, one that has rendered the State Department largely a vestigial limb of government. You see, there is something to be said for having America’s engagements overseas done by civilians. That system—we call it diplomacy—has worked pretty well for what it is for most of the last couple of thousand years. The military does some stuff well, and diplomats do some stuff well. Remember your Clausewitz: war is what happens only after diplomacy fails.

The other problem with militarization is that it makes military targets out of people like NGO workers who should not be in the cross hairs of the bad guys. The latest sad revelation out of Pakistan only serves to put more American lives abroad in danger.

According to the National Journal’s Marc Ambinder in his new book on Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), The Command: Deep Inside the President’s Secret Army:

The U.S. intelligence community took advantage of the chaos to spread resources of its own into [Pakistan]. Using valid U.S. passports and posing as construction and aid workers, dozens of Central Intelligence Agency operatives and contractors flooded in without the requisite background checks from the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. (emphasis added)

So thanks JSOC, we’re all more valuable targets now that the bad guys can’t tell a legitimate reconstruction worker or NGO staffer from one of your goons.

Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!

Posted in Democracy, Iraq

Budget Update: State Sez Please Sirs, May I Have More?

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Let’s see, pretty much everyone running for election in 2012 is barking about cutting spending, saving money, that sort of thing. It seems a popular tune these days. So course it is little surprise that after taking serious cuts last year, the State Department is actually asking for MORE money this year, ‘natch.

The fiscal 2013 budget request asks Congress for $51.6 billion for the State Department and USAID, which the administration describes as a 1.6 percent increase over fiscal 2012 levels in the latest appropriations bill.

Important to note for anyone who thinks our relations with China, India, Brazil or anywhere else we’re not at war with might matter, that $51.6 billion total includes $8.2 billion in the Overseas Contingency Operations account, which is meant to pay for State’s 5,500 mercenaries, chicken wings and Splenda in Iraq, plus expenses in Afghanistan (which we are still reconstructing just like we did in Iraq) and Pakistan. The State Department budget request is also kind enough to include about $5.5 billion in foreign military financing, I guess because weapons are about America’s only viable export product left. You can go nuts and read the entire budget request here.

“We know that this is a time of fiscal constraint and economic hardship for the American people,” said Hillary Clinton, “So we are seeking out every opportunity to work smarter and more efficiently.”

That efficiency no doubts include the indoor swimming pool, driving range, tennis court and bar inside the Embassy in Baghdad, plus the staff in Public Affairs in Washington whose job it is to compile weekly lists of my blog posts (State has a new lawyer assigned to my prosecution, everybody say hi! to Anne). Oh yes, another efficiency are the Hall Walkers at State, foreign service officers State wants to dump but won’t or can’t and who draw full salaries to do little or no work. The electronic controls on State’s computers that block Wikileaks sites are another efficiency, no doubt. A bunch of money is headed toward “social media” (Guys, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts are free to sign up) and important diplomatic breakthroughs like “The 2012 Tag Challenge,” which “calls on technology enthusiasts from several nations to set their sleuthing skills loose on a mock gang of jewel thieves in an international search contest.” There’s a $5000 prize for that one, whatever the hell the point of it is. And hey, the State Department is now getting ready to offer Chrome as an in-house browser, and that’s free too, right? As a true friend of democracy, State also wants $1.3 billion in direct aid to the Egyptian military, plus more than $2 billion in aid to Pakistan.

But those are petty things, really, and limited to things I know of. Yet they illustrate an organization that, despite its request for more money and a place at the big peoples’ table, seems to also have plenty of time and money for petty things.

I’m sure Congress will approve State’s request for a budget increase. And the Beach Boys weren’t sad and old on the Grammy Awards.

Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. The views expressed here are solely those of the author(s) in their private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of the Department of State, the Department of Defense or any other entity of the US Government. The Department of State does not approve, endorse or authorize this blog or book. Follow us on Twitter!

Posted in Democracy, Iraq