IRAQ:The new US ambassador in Iraq says the embassy in Baghdad does not have enough well-qualified staff and has asked the state department for its "best people", the Washington Postreported yesterday.
"Simply put, we cannot do the nation's most important work if we do not have the department's best people," Ryan Crocker wrote in a blunt memo last month to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, the newspaper reported.
"In essence, the issue is whether we are a department and a service at war," Mr Crocker wrote. "If we are, we need to organise and prioritise in a way that reflects this, something we have not done thus far."
The embassy in Baghdad has become the centre of a battle between Mr Crocker, who wants to strengthen the staff, and some members of Congress, who are sceptical about the rising costs, the Post said.
Mr Crocker confirmed the authenticity of the unclassified memo, but said it was not intended as criticism of Ms Rice or of the staff, the Post said.
He told the newspaper that the memo reflected the urgent nature of the tasks he has faced since becoming ambassador.
"The big issue for me, in my estimation, was simply not having enough people," Mr Crocker said.
Mr Crocker's memo also complained about "overly restrictive" security rules imposed on diplomats because of a law passed after the 1983 bombing of the US embassy in Beirut. He asked for authority to operate under less restrictive military standards as necessary, the Post reported. Diplomats were "not able to do the job needed", such as meet officials in cities such as Najaf, under the rules, Mr Crocker told the newspaper.