Free Republic

During a contentious Senate hearing last week, State Department consular chief Maura Harty took personal responsibility for the backlog of two million passport applications—leading to wait times of 12 weeks or more—that has wreaked havoc on honeymoons, family getaways, and business trips. She was hailed by many for her contrite performance. Unfortunately, though Harty was apologetic, she was not entirely honest. Not only that, the Senate did not learn the full extent of her personal culpability in creating the passport mess with a series of blunders. And on the heels of creating a backlog of two million passport applications and...

Continuing the State Department’s efforts to undermine President Bush in Iraq, Consular chief Maura Harty recently filled two key Iraq-related positions with people whose track records suggest nothing but incompetence—or worse—coziness with the House of Saud.  Supposed “agent of change” Harty recently named a former top deputy of “courtesy culture” pioneer Mary Ryan (Harty’s predecessor who was pushed out last summer) to a high-level State Department task force, and then she chose as the consular chief for the new Baghdad embassy a woman who enjoys very close relations with the Saudi royal family. Continued