Foreign Service Weenies

We've known for a long time that among the career diplomat corps in the State Department there are a number of people who not only oppose the Iraq war, but are outright hostile to the Bush Administration. That was never made clearer than during a State Department town meeting in which some of the weenier of the State Dept. weenies took the microphone and did their best Code Pink impersonation. One guy in particular sounded more like a MoveOn.org dummy than a career diplomat, claiming than an assignment to Iraq was a "death sentence" and wailing "who's going to raise our children when we're killed in Iraq!!".

For the record, some 1,500 people have served in the Foreign Service in Iraq and a total of 3 have been killed since 2003, and 2 of them were security personnel. These people take an oath to serve anywhere in the world where their country needs them, and if some of these folks don't want to go to Iraq, they should be fired. Period.

Rep. Duncan Hunter has some ideas about how to fill the open Iraq positions:

Responding to reports that State Department officials are refusing to serve in Iraq because it's too dangerous, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has proposed a novel plan to President Bush – to bypass the agency and recruit from among U.S. military troops discharged after suffering injury.

Hunter, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, told talk-radio host Glenn Beck today he met with Bush just 30 minutes prior to the interview and gave him a letter outlining the plan.

"I said, 'Let's go over to Bethesda and Walter Reed (hospitals) and as we get these new – these soldiers and Marines who are embarking on new careers," Hunter said, "let's recruit them for the State Department; and let's fire these guys that refuse to go, and we'll give the State Department careers to these military guys."

That's not a bad idea. Most wounded soldiers would gladly return to Iraq if their service could help their buddies win the war. If the professonal foreign service types can't handle the job, let's get some folks who are willing to serve.