THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2024 11 employment status and will be posted across the FSI campus as a reference point for the standard of behavior to which we will hold ourselves, our students, and our guest speakers accountable. Moreover, FSI plans to use the People Principles as the foundation for developing future inclusive leadership curriculum, processes, and policy. By upholding FSI’s People Principles and actively engaging in DEIA initiatives, employees are contributing to a more positive work environment where diversity is respected, inclusion is promoted, and individuals can thrive professionally and personally. Together, FSI is poised to stand as a champion of diversity and inclusion serving the State Department’s entire global workforce. Frederick C. Jefferson III Senior Adviser for Inclusive Leadership Foreign Service Institute Arlington, Virginia Wary or Weary? I welcome Emmalee Gruesen’s recognition of the overwhelming similarity in the challenges faced by military and Foreign Service families (“DETO Developments: A Glass Half Empty?” in Letters, January-February 2024 FSJ). Raised a military “brat” and married to a career Army officer, I am personally familiar with and deeply appreciative of the sacrifices of America’s military families. I was surprised, though, by Gruesen’s perception of Adam Pearlman’s observations and concerns (articulated in his letter, “The DETO Landscape: An Optimistic Caution,” in the October 2023 FSJ) as reflecting a “general wariness of military spouses.” Pearlman’s letter and his subsequent Speaking Out piece (November 2023 FSJ), “The Quest for Reasonable Civ-Mil Parity,” point out that both EO 14100 and the Joining Forces initiative are exclusively focused on military family members, including provisions for preferential consideration of military spouses for federal employment, and directing prioritization of military spouses (exclusively) for federal DETO (telework overseas) agreements. Pearlman’s observation strikes me not as a “wariness” of our sisters and brothers in uniform and their spouses, but rather a “weariness” that—though reassuringly recognized by Ms. Gruesen—the challenges facing Foreign Service spouses are overlooked in such significant initiatives affecting federal employment policy. R. Carl Paschall Senior FSO Washington, D.C. A Terrible Gesture Throughout the first two years of the Second Gulf War (2003-2005), I was the U.S. consul for labor and economic affairs in Casablanca, the commercial capital of the first country to recognize the United States of America. Virtually all my Moroccan contacts from labor unions, business associations, academia, and civil society first supported our invasion of Iraq. They well understood that Saddam Hussein and his military regime were a menace to the region and had a stranglehold on the Iraqi people. They only hoped that there would be minimal civilian casualties. Their attitude changed drastically after confirmed reports about U.S. military personnel abusing and torturing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. They deeply bemoaned what happened, saying it sullied America’s reputation as the world’s human rights standard-bearer. They stressed that the U.S. must remain true to its values if it hoped to win hearts and minds in the Middle East and North Africa. Now, more than 20 years later, over Memorial Day weekend, prominent politician and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, in a brazen and callous publicity stunt, displayed her long-standing anti-Arab animosities by signing an Israeli artillery shell with the words “Finish Them!” in all caps. She should have known better. The photo op, now widely disseminated, can and will surely add to the number of anti-American jihadists eager for revenge and worsen Israel’s isolation and pariah status among its critics. It won’t increase Israel’s security by one iota but promises to further endanger our troops, diplomatic personnel, journalists, business representatives, educators, missionaries, NGO workers, and travelers throughout the region. Words matter—especially coming from a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. George W. Aldridge FSO, retired San Marcos, Texas n Corrections In the May 2024 USAID VP column, Garnett A. Zimmerly’s name was incorrectly spelled. In the July-August 2024 In Memory section, the year of Mr. Christopher Wittman’s posting to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations should have read 2001, not 2021 as printed. We regret the errors.
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