World Tribune.com

New embassy in Iraq to hire
1,000 Americans

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Sunday, July 11, 2004

Officials said the U.S. embassy in Iraq will be one of the largest in the Middle East and will hire 1,000 Americans for the Baghdad facility.

The United States plans to hire private contractors to provide security at the new embassy.

U.S. officials said the State Department will not have access to sufficient military or government security personnel and as a result, will seek out private security firms, Middle East Newsline reported.

The greatest challenge in the diplomatic transition will be ensuring the security of the embassy personnel in Iraq, officials said. They did not say how many security personnel would be needed for the embassy, headed by ambassador John Negroponte.

"The fact is the number we're anticipating of Americans permanently assigned desks in the embassy is oscillating somewhere under 1,000," State Department official Frank Ricciardone said.

Speaking at a recent seminar at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington, Ricciardone said about 700 Iraqis would be employed by the embassy, housed in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces. He said that as the security situation in Iraq improves, Iraqis would take over many of the jobs held by Americans.

Ricciardone said the United States would establish a diplomatic presence in the Iraqi provinces. But he added that such a presence would be less visible than that of the defunct Coalition Provisional Authority.

"We intend to have Americans working outside of Baghdad in the provincial areas, much as CPA has done, but quite frankly with a lesser footprint," Ricciardone said. "We are not the colonial administrators of this country. We are there as guests, as a supportive good friend."

Mick Kicklighter, a senior Defense Department official who serves on the Pentagon's Iraq Transition Team, said the insurgency war in Iraq was hampering the conversion of the CPA into a diplomatic presence. Kicklighter said the Pentagon and State Department were approaching the problem in an integrated manner.

"Anyone who has served in the military knows that one of the most difficult operations you ever have to perform is the changing of an organization ø withdrawal of an organization ø in combat," Kicklighter said. "That's exactly what we're embarking on, changing the Coalition Provisional Authority into a U.S. mission."


Copyright © 2004 East West Services, Inc.

Print this Article Print this Article Email this article Email this article Subscribe to this Feature Free Headline Alerts



Google
Search Worldwide Web Search WorldTribune.com Search WorldTrib Archives