FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS AND IRAQ

November 5, 2007  

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent decision to force Foreign Service officers to serve in Iraq because of a shortage of volunteers has caused consternation among some at the State Department. Protests at a recent town hall meeting and two resignations received much media coverage. Not since Vietnam, they tell us, has State forced Foreign Service officers to serve in a war zone. All those places where terrorists blew up US Embassies don’t count.

Throughout my career, I’ve known and worked with hundreds of Foreign Service officers. As a military officer, I served with them in Vietnam, at the US Embassy in Taipei, Taiwan, in the 1970s (one, Doug Ramsey, was a former Vietnam POW), and at the US Embassy in Beijing, China, in the 1980s. As a DoD civilian I worked with them in Washington, DC, and at US Embassies I visited around the world.

Thousands from all levels served in South Vietnam during the war. They worked in the embassy in Saigon and in all the provinces. In the early years, entire classes of new Foreign Service officers were assigned there. 

From what I've been able to judge, those who remained in the Foreign Service, or joined it after serving in the military in Vietnam, were proud of it. Most developed affection for the Vietnamese people and cared about what happened to them.

People from both groups went on to become ambassadors and senior State Department officials. The current Deputy Secretary of State, John Negroponte, served in the US Embassy in Vietnam in the 1960s.  Former Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, although not a career Foreign Service officer, served six years there both in the US Navy and in the US Embassy.

Like most Americans who served in Vietnam, their experience affected them as individuals and influenced their perspectives on war and the military throughout their careers. Regardless what their views were on the Vietnam War, they came away with a greater respect for the military and a better understanding of its capabilities and limitations. More important, their Vietnam experiences taught them invaluable lessons that made them better at what they did. Those I’ve known who served there are among the best I’ve ever worked with.

In Washington, DC, we in Defense frequently criticize our State Department brothers and sisters. Just as they frequently criticize us. The inter-agency arena is often contentious. Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon are two distinct bureaucratic cultures. We have our policy differences. We approach problems differently. And we have our differences with ambassadors and embassy staffs. 

Nevertheless, those of us who have worked with Foreign Service and other State Department professionals, and seen them in action around the world, don’t belittle their courage or there devotion to duty. They may not carry M16s or wear body armor, but in many places they too are on the front lines.

A Foreign Service officer doesn’t have to be posted in Iraq or Afghanistan to be at risk. Today, practically every US Embassy in a foreign country is a target for terrorists. Many have been attacked. Foreign Service officers have been among the casualties. Every officer knows that when he or she is posted overseas, particularly in the Middle East, much of Asia, or Africa, they and their families are targets.

Of course there are those who don’t want to serve in Iraq, just as there were those who didn’t want to serve in Vietnam. Not every military officer would volunteer to go to Iraq if he or she had a choice. But professional military officers know that service in Iraq goes with the job. When their turn comes they do their duty. They serve their country as best they can. I’m sure the overwhelming majority of Foreign Service Officers involuntarily assigned to Iraq will do the same.

Just as we did during the Vietnam War, we hear the familiar refrain about the war in Iraq. “We can’t win this war militarily, there has to be a political solution.” If this is true, and I believe it is, we need plenty of good, energetic Foreign Service officers in Iraq to negotiate political solutions and win “hearts and minds.”

It would be great if there were enough Foreign Service officers to fill every job in Iraq. Obviously there aren’t. When their turn comes, all but a few Foreign Service officers will go, some reluctantly. They don’t have to agree with US policy in Iraq. They just have to believe in the Foreign Service, in themselves, and in their country.

Yes, there’s a risk. But like me and millions of other military and civilian officials who have gone in harms way for their country, they likely will come away better for the experience. In the process, they’ll help win a much larger war. Foreign Service officers who have reservations about going to Iraq should take a lesson from their Vietnam War era predecessors. And the media should focus those who do go to Iraq, not the few who refuse to go.