Ryan Crocker: State officials in Iraq ‘too young,’ ‘not qualified.’

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/19/state-officials-in-iraq-too-young-not-qualified/

State officials in Iraq ‘too young,’ ‘not qualified.’

“Ryan C. Crocker, the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq, bluntly told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a cable dated May 31 that the embassy in Baghdad — the largest and most expensive U.S. embassy — lacks enough well-qualified staff members and that its security rules are too restrictive for Foreign Service officers to do their jobs.”

The unclassified cable underscores the State Department’s struggle to find its role in the turmoil in Iraq. With a 2007 budget of more than $1 billion and a staff that has expanded to more than 1,000 Americans and 4,000 third-country nationals, the embassy has become the center of a bureaucratic battle between Crocker, who wants to strengthen the staff, and some members of Congress, who are increasingly skeptical about the diplomatic mission’s rising costs. <…>

“He’s panicking,” said one government official who recently returned from Baghdad, adding that Crocker is carrying a heavy workload as the United States presses the Iraqi government to meet political benchmarks.

“You could use a well-managed political section of 50 people” who know what they are doing, the official said, but Crocker does not have it because many staffers assigned to the embassy are “too young for the job,” or are not qualified and are “trying to save their careers” by taking an urgent assignment in Iraq.

[annabanana]

1. He's just finding this out? He's just met Bremer's Babies?

Oh he's qualified for his new job, yep... He's had his eye on the ball.

[KharmaTrain]

2. This Dude Isn't Even A Good Toadie

I love Arianna's description of the Crockerbot2000...this dude is pumped full of talking points and he drones them out without any emotion or conviction.

Now wasn't there supposed to be at least another election or two in Iraq by now? Or was the "purple finger" show now an "inoperative" concept? If this government isn't "qualified"...then what's stopping you or others from installing one? Maybe it's because the only justification this regime has for the continued carnage is the ongoing instability.

Crocker is yet another incompetent GOOP hack who kissed ass up to the top and now must pay off by selling soul and princpals...if he ever had any to start out with.