Posted on 11/10/2011 12:47:52 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Foreign Service officers are firing back at Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's charges that some State Department employees are not working in the best interest of the country.
In a written statement, the American Foreign Service Association said Thursday the Texas governor's comments "reflect a serious misunderstanding" of the role of Foreign Service officers "in promoting American interests overseas."
In a radio program this week with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, Perry said, "I'm not sure our State Department serves us well."
....Perry added that Congress might have to take action to ensure the nation's diplomatic corps is doing work that benefits America.
The AFSA statement called diplomacy "a vital instrument for ensuring national security, along with the military."
"Foreign Service professionals carry out their role with exemplary dedication all over the world, including war zones and other dangerous regions," the statement said.
Hundreds of American diplomats have given their lives in the line of duty, the association said, and listed six U.S. ambassadors who have died, 14 who have "made the ultimate sacrifice at the hands of terrorists or drug traffickers," and noted that the bombings of U.S. embassies in Beirut in 1983 and 1985 and in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 "killed scores more."
AFSA is the professional association and labor union of the U.S. Foreign Service, representing 28,000 active and retired employees.
The organization, in its statement, said diplomats, often separated from their families, draw on expertise gained by living and working in countries around the world to "provide sound advice for policy decisions regardless of which party is in power."
"We need more diplomacy, not less," the organization added, "and we need more, not less, support from our political leaders and citizens for their work to defend and advance our interests abroad."
(Excerpt) Read more at security.blogs.cnn.com ...
Yellowcake twists......"Mr. Wilson’s fame soared when columnist Robert Novak disclosed a Bush administration official told him Mr. Wilson had been selected for the Niger mission at the recommendation of his wife, CIA officer Valerie Plame. He was a frequent guest on television news shows; the subject of a fawning profile in Vanity Fair magazine; awarded a lucrative book deal, and made an (unpaid) foreign policy adviser to Sen. John Kerry."....
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Gov. Perry's comment about career diplomats apparently struck a nerve or two:
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...."I'll Bet I've Met More Diplomats Than Rick Perry Has. I've met lots and lots and lots of diplomats over the past decade or so. Heck, I even married one.
But of course, I'm not a diplomat myself. Which is why I can say, very undiplomatically, that Rick Perry is a moron. Go read this and see if you don't agree: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/07/perry-questions-intentions-of-american-diplomats/. Said Mr. Perry: “I’m not sure our State Department serves us well. I’m not talking about the Secretary of State here. I’m talking about the career diplomats and the Secretary of State who, all too often, may not be making decisions, or giving advice to the administration that’s in this country’s best interest.”
Here's the way it works, Mr. Perry, since you're clearly not too familiar with how the Foreign Service operates. The U.S. Department of State looks for the smartest people it can find, and then, if it can interest them in a low-paying, lonely and dangerous job, somewhere in the far reaches of the globe, it hires them."........ The Embassy blogspot
Give Ricky a Gold Star for being able to recall the name of the State Department.
The US diplomatic corps are not there for American citizens in foreign countries. They are there to sooth and placate the host country.
Just get into trouble with another country’s authorities when abroad and you will find out very quickly whose side the US diplomats are for, hint, tis not the American citizen’s.
I, however, DO know how the FS operates. I didnt need Perry to tell me some of our FS employees are not on our side. Im glad he said it, though..
I, however, DO know how the FS operates. I didnt need Perry to tell me some of our FS employees are not on our side. Im glad he said it, though..
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Ask a Foreign Service officer what his job is.
I bet he WON’T say “To promote the interests of the US and her citizens abroad.”
I, too, know a little bit about the Foreign Service. “Clientitis” is endemic throughout the institution. Some FSOs begin to feel as if they are working for the host country. There are some patriots, but many of them are affected by a diplomatic “Stockholm Syndrome.” They know that their contacts are crooked thugs, but they’re OUR crooked thugs, so let’s keep that foreign aid coming. How else can the dictator afford that villa on Lake Geneva?
State is chock full of leakers, libs and homos and not necessarily in that order. At least half who work there are totally useless.
The State Department is NOT working in our interests. To be very un -PC call a spade a spade and move to improvement
Thanks for the article, CW,
I am not very familiar with this and am glad to learn more.
You’re welcome casinva.
Then there was this earlier but this story isn’t over.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2805641/posts#9
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