Joanna
Andy F wrote:
> <http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002690071>
>
>
> 'Wash Post' Obtains Shocking Memo from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
>
> By Greg Mitchell
>
> Published: June 18, 2006 6:20 PM ET
>
> NEW YORK The Washington Post has obtained a cable, marked "sensitive,"
> that it says shows that just before President Bush left on a surprise
> trip last Monday to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat assessment
> of the situation there, "the U.S. Embassy in Iraq painted a starkly
> different portrait of increasing danger and hardship faced by its
> Iraqi employees."
>
> This cable outlines, the Post reported Sunday, "the daily-worsening
> conditions for those who live outside the heavily guarded
> international zone: harassment, threats and the employees' constant
> fears that their neighbors will discover they work for the U.S.
> government."
>
> It's actually far worse than that, as the details published below
> indicate, which include references to abductions, threats to women's
> rights, and "ethnic cleansing."
>
> A PDF copy of the cable shows that it was sent to the SecState in
> Washington, D.C. from "AMEmbassy Baghdad" on June 6. The typed name at
> the very bottom is Khalilzad -- the name of the U.S. Ambassador,
> though it is not known if this means he wrote the memo or merely
> approved it.
>
> The subject of the memo is: "Snapshots from the Office -- Public
> Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social Discord."
>
> As a footnote in one of the 23 sections, the embassy relates, "An Arab
> newspaper editor told us he is preparing an extensive survey of ethnic
> cleansing, which he said is taking place in almost every Iraqi
> province, as political parties and their militiast are seemingly
> engaged in tit-for-tat reprisals all over Iraq."
>
> Among the other troubling reports:
>
> -- "Personal safety depends on good relations with the 'neighborhood'
> governments, who barricade streets and ward off outsiders. The central
> government, our staff says, is not relevant; even local mukhtars have
> been displaced or coopted by militias. People no longer trust most
> neighbors."
>
> -- One embassy employee had a brother-in-law kidnapped. Another
> received a death threat, and then fled the country with her family.
>
> -- Iraqi staff at the embassy, beginning in March and picking up in
> May, report "pervasive" harassment from Islamist and/or militia
> groups. Cuts in power and rising fuel prices "have diminished the
> quality of life." Conditions vary but even upscale neighborhoods "have
> visibly deteriorated" and one of them is now described as a "ghost
> town."
>
> -- Two of the three female Iraqis in the public affairs office
> reported stepped-up harassment since mid-May...."some groups are
> pushing women to cover even their face, a step not taken in Iran even
> at its most conservative." One of the women is now wearing a full
> abaya after receiving direct threats.
>
> -- It has also become "dangerous" for men to wear shorts in public and
> "they no longer allow their children to play outside in shorts."
> People who wear jeans in public have also come under attack.
>
> -- Embassy employees are held in such low esteem their work must
> remain a secret and they live with constant fear that their cover will
> be blown. Of nine staffers, only four have told their families where
> they work. They all plan for their possible abductions. No one takes
> home their cell phones as this gives them away. One employee said
> criticism of the U.S. had grown so severe that most of her family
> believes the U.S. "is punishing populations as Saddam did."
>
> -- Since April, the "demeanor" of guards in the Green Zone has
> changed, becoming more "militia-like," and some are now "taunting"
> embassy personnel or holding up their credentials and saying loudly
> that they work in the embassy: "Such information is a death sentence
> if overheard by the wrong people." For this reason, some have asked
> for press instead of embassy credentials.
>
> -- "For at least six months, we have not been able to use any local
> staff members for translation at on-camera press events....We cannot
> call employees in on weekends or holidays without blowing their
> 'cover.'"
>
> -- "More recently, we have begun shredding documents printed out that
> show local staff surnames. In March, a few staff members approached us
> to ask what provisions would we make for them if we evacuate."
>
> -- The overall environment is one of "frayed social networks," with
> frequent actual or perceived insults. None of this is helped by lack
> of electricity. "One colleague told us he feels 'defeated' by
> circumstances, citing his example of being unable to help his
> two-year-old son who has asthma and cannot sleep in stifling heat,"
> which is now reaching 115 degrees.
>
> -- "Another employee tell us that life outside the Green Zone has
> become 'emotionally draining.' He lives in a mostly Shiite area and
> claims to attend a funeral 'every evening.'"
>
> -- Fuel lines have grown so long that one staffer spent 12 hours in
> line on his day off. "Employees all confirm that by the last week of
> May, they were getting one hour of power for every six hours without.
> ... One staff member reported that a friend lives in a building that
> houses a new minister; within 24 hours of his appointment, her
> building had city power 24 hours a day."
>
> -- The cable concludes that employees' "personal fears are reinforcing
> divisive sectarian or ethnic channels, despite talk of reconciliation
> by officials."
>
> The final line of the Cable is: KHALILZAD
>
>