U.S. Embassy In Iraq To Be Cut By Up To Half

An American flag flies in front of the United States Embassy in Baghdad. Lucas Jackson/Reuters

U.S. Planning to Slash Iraq Embassy Staff by Up to Half -- New York Times

BAGHDAD — Less than two months after American troops left, the State Department is preparing to slash by as much as half the enormous diplomatic presence it had planned for Iraq, a sharp sign of declining American influence in the country.

Officials in Baghdad and Washington said that Ambassador James F. Jeffrey and other senior State Department officials are reconsidering the size and scope of the embassy, where the staff has swelled to nearly 16,000 people, mostly contractors.

Read more ....

Update #1: In Reversal, U.S. will Shrink Massive Iraq Embassy -- International Business Times
Update #2: US plans to cut Iraq embassy staff in half -- The Hill

My Comment: I expected at least until after the U.S. election to have this happen .... but no .... it's being done now. Max Boot's analysis is spot on with this policy reversal.

Grab The Post URL

URL: https://bloggernizer.blogspot.com/2012/02/us-embassy-in-iraq-to-be-cut-by-up-to.html
HTML link code: <a href="https://bloggernizer.blogspot.com/2012/02/us-embassy-in-iraq-to-be-cut-by-up-to.html">bloggernizer: U.S. Embassy In Iraq To Be Cut By Up To Half "clickable"</a>
BB (forum) link code: [url=https://bloggernizer.blogspot.com/2012/02/us-embassy-in-iraq-to-be-cut-by-up-to.html]bloggernizer: U.S. Embassy In Iraq To Be Cut By Up To Half "clickable"[/url]