The AP reports:
We’ve been over this issue before (see the boss’s “Of Diplomats and Men“), but this is the first time I’ve seen any hard numbers. The folks who don’t want to be separated from their families, I’m sympathetic, but that’s the job they signed up for. As for the 61 percent who won’t go because of fears about their security, that’s straight-up cowardice. It’s a disgrace that 42 percent of our diplomats have no qualms about saying that they won’t do a difficult job for fear of failing, or that 48 percent won’t do their job–carrying out U.S. policy–unless they agree with that policy, but how can people be so shameless as to say up-front they won’t do their job because they’re scared. There are a lot of female reporters working in Iraq, and a lot more female soldiers. I’m sure they’re scared, too, but they’ve got the dignity to get the job done. It’s a shame we can’t say the same about our diplomats.
