The Foreign Service Journal, May 2007

16 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 7 “ I raq’s PRTs: Pins on a Map,” Shawn Dorman’s article in the March issue of the Foreign Service Journal , captures the inherent complexities of creating a flexible and comprehensive U.S. government re- sponse to challenges posed by a post- 9/11 world. The way we assess and manage conflict and stabilization has changed dramatically, and serves as the driving force behind Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s commit- ment to transformational diplomacy. The Provincial Reconstruction Teams, and the Foreign Service offi- cers who lead them, are the vanguard of this transformative process. It is challenging work. The Journal article highlights some of the logistical and coordination problems that hampered the initial rollout of the PRT program in 2005-2006, particularly with re- spect to generating a common vision and plan for the teams among depart- ments with different institutional cul- tures. It is true that the FSOs responsible for establishing the first PRTs during late 2005 and early 2006 often met hostile and unaccommodating envi- ronments, including lack of clarity about provision of crucial support. But these FSOs were pioneers: they helped develop a new approach and novel mechanisms to fight terrorism and mitigate civil strife, and their efforts laid the groundwork for the progress that the PRTs are making today. The PRT initiative has been a hard journey for the State Department. We have had to adjust our peacetime institutions and bureaucratic process- es with their deliberative character to the rough realities on the ground, and we are still learning and adjusting. But as the Journal ’s many examples prove, it is a tribute to our FSOs, excepted Civil Service officers (3161s), and partners from other agencies and the military that together they have achieved so much outside the Green Zone in the face of adversity. The many examples of PRT ac- complishments that the Journal cites add up to much more than pins on a map. The teams are helping to unify a country, enabling Iraqis to resist the centripetal forces that threaten to pull them apart. Broader political and economic engagement at the provin- cial and local level is a critical compo- nent of President Bush’s new strategy for accelerating the transition to Iraqi self-reliance. Through mentoring, training and other support, the PRTs are assisting local governments, from Basrah in the south to Ninawa in the north, to exe- cute their own budgets to fund pro- jects and services that will benefit local Iraqis in their daily lives and in a non-sectarian way. As PRT Baghdad Team Leader Joe Gregoire aptly puts it, “We are seeing many successes as diplomacy transforms the relationship between the city’s inhabitants and its elected leaders in this former dicta- torship.” Much More than Pins on a Map B Y L AWRENCE E. B UTLER I N R ESPONSE The Provincial Reconstruction Teams, and the Foreign Service officers who lead them, are the vanguard of transformational diplomacy in Iraq. Secretary of State Rice meets with Iraq PRT members.