A Just Reason for Diplomat's Concern

It’s a staple tactic of the Bush Administration to face opposition with personal attacks, name calling and questioning the patriotism of their opponents. Yesterday, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calf), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee borrowed a page from the Administration’s playbook when he viciously attacked members of the State Department Diplomatic Corp who were up in arms about the State Department’s recent decision to force a sizeable number of diplomats to serve in Iraq or be fired. The diplomats have been protesting that decision, claiming that forced service in the civil war torn country under its current condition amounts to a death sentence.

Rep. Hunter issued a statement saying, “Let’s replace these reluctant Nellies with America’s finest citizens.” He then suggested that wounded soldiers be sent in their stead.

When Duncan Hunter travels to Iraq, he does so on highly protected military transports, as opposed to diplomats who are routinely required to use less protected commercial airlines. When Duncan Hunter is in Iraq, his itinerary includes activities mainly in the heavily fortified ‘Green Zone’, unlike diplomats whose job entails frequent meetings with lower-level Iraq government agencies all over the country without the level of military presence Hunter enjoys. It’s a bit hypocritical of Hunter to label concerned diplomats ‘Nellies’ when he himself doesn’t operate under similar conditions.

An ordinary diplomat’s trade is accomplished with words and reason. It cannot be successful if he or she is perceived to using overt force as a tool, and thus, such work often requires that a diplomat operate without a large military contingent in tow. Unfortunately, that reality also exposes a diplomat to extreme danger, especially in a country ravaged by civil war and the existence of groups who would like nothing better than to kidnap an American diplomat and bring about his or her violent death.

In the past, the State department has withdrawn diplomats in far safer areas of the world where turmoil erupted due to the lack of adequate safety to its employees. Now, the Administration has decided to eliminate that concern from their diplomatic placement decisions and seeks to require diplomats to operate in an untenably hostile and unsafe environment without regard for the diplomat’s safety.

Diplomats in Iraq have justifiable reason for concern. Over the past several years it’s been painfully documented that Administration officials and their supporters in Congress, like Rep Hunter, who was then head of the Armed Services Committee, sent servicemen and women into Iraq without the military equipment, planning and protection they needed to get their job done. Little wonder diplomats would fail to trust their own lives in those same hands.

Members of the United States diplomatic corp. have served this nation with valor and distinction in many hostile environments around the globe and do not deserve to be called ‘Nellies’ simply because they’ve questioned the current administration decision to ignore unacceptable risks in the placement of their employees. Nor do our diplomats deserve to have their patriotism or careers jeopardized by people who would not, for even one second, operate under the same condition diplomats do every day.

It’s no coincidence that Representative Hunter’s solution would be to send wounded veterans back to Iraq in the diplomat’s stead. This is the guy who failed in his congressional oversight role to insure wounded veterans had the proper tools for war in the first place. This is a politician who neglected to see wounded veterans received the finest medical care upon their return (recall the conditions of military flagship Walter Reed Hospital), or that they not have to fight a second battle in the quest for veteran’s disability benefits.

It should come as no surprise then, that Duncan Hunter would return the wounded to a war zone without the tools necessary to do a job, or that if the wounded balked at the idea, he’d call them a ‘Nellie’ too.

Duncan Hunter is no diplomat. He’s a congressman. Let’s not mix the two.