The Foreign Service Journal, March 2006

newer agents volunteering, and a desire to curtail from previous post.” How does the way you work in Iraq differ from the way you worked at other posts? The three top ways working in Iraq dif- fers from other places, according to the respondents, are: the level of danger, the extreme work hours and the non-integrat- ed command structure between the embassy, the military and the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office. (IRMO is a temporary organization that was established to oversee and monitor all U.S. government spending on reconstruc- tion that does not come from Defense Department coffers.) Another factor raised by many survey respondents was the impact of having so many appointees and contractors at the mission, many of whom have never served in an embassy or overseas before. “We don’t get shot at in Berlin,” comments an FSO who served in Baghdad and regional embassy offices, summing up the general sentiment on the level of danger working in Iraq. One officer notes the difference by describing a trip to the Red Zone he had just taken the day before to meet with an Iraqi contact. (The Red Zone is all of Iraq out- side the protected central-Baghdad area previously known as the Green Zone and, more recently, renamed the International Zone.) “I traveled to the meeting with three armored vehicles and 14 fully-armed contractors in assault gear as my personal security escort. I was met by six more of the same at the site who had secured the building before my arrival. As we entered Check Point One on our return to the International Zone, a car bomb detonated at Check Point Two, killing two and injuring many more. Timing is everything.” “It is very different from other posts in that we are assisting an ongoing major U.S. war effort and the level of risk is higher,” notes an FSO serving in Iraq. “In other countries, like Algeria and Burundi, the ongoing civil conflict was not aimed at us, but here, it is [aimed at us] as well as at all those who support us.” Working condi- tions are such, observes a retired FSO who served in a contract position in Iraq, that “in any other place the embassy would have been closed or drawn down to a skeletal staff.” Many respondents commented on the “extreme” work hours. It is clear that the pace in Baghdad is fre- F O C U S 20 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A R C H 2 0 0 6 A vandalized Saddam mural on the Kirkuk Airbase Rebecca Fong Political Officer | Baghdad | January 2006 0630 Stand at Checkpoint One to identify and escort a Ministry of Foreign Affairs convoy that needs to enter the Green Zone. 0815 Attend staff meeting. 0900 Meet with embassy Foreign Service Nationals. 1000 Drive in Green Zone to the Transitional National Assembly. Talk to [Iraqi] congress- men about certain issues, monitor proceed- ings, have lunch with congressmen and dis- cuss legislation. 1500 Red Zone run to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, brief deputy foreign ministers on vari- ous business, and take notes for the [Iraqi] prime minister’s meeting with a U.S. congres- sional delegation. 1800 Have dinner in Green Zone with the adviser to the deputy president. 2100 Write cables. A Day i n t he L i f e o f . . . Eric Watnik