The Disgrace at State

Last January, I spent 24 hours in Baghdad with Lieutenant Colonel Steven Miska, an extremely capable deputy brigade commander, who introduced me to some of the Iraqi interpreters on his base. In March, when my article, "Betrayed," appeared, Miska wrote me to say that he was going to commit himself to getting his unit's local staff who were under threat out of Iraq and into the U.S. Now Miska is at the end of his 15-month tour and about to leave Iraq. Last night, he wrote in an e-mail:

We have five Iraqis in the U.S., all interpreters. We have more than two dozen more with packets in various stages of completion. Even though this is the special [immigrant] visa streamlined process, I don't think the Iraqis could have figured it out without my staff. It took a concerted effort to decipher the system and develop the points of contact at each echelon to work through the red tape. We have had more success than most. Still, the policy calls for the final visa approval to take place in Amman. Iraqis must come up with an alibi to get to Amman, as "I'm going to the U.S. Embassy" will get you quickly turned around at the Jordanian border.We set up a bit of an underground railroad from our location and it has worked.

So here is one soldier who has made it his last mission not to leave his Iraqi friends behind. Many other soldiers are doing the same thing, as individuals and through organizations like the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. In the case of the military, the reason is clear: an institutional ethos and shared dangers create a debt of gratitude and a strong bond. A handful of civilian officials from various departments are also pushing on behalf of their Iraqi friends. But the State Department, as an organization, has disgraced itself.

It lobbied against a Senate resolution that would increase the number of special immigrant visas for Iraqis by tenfold and allow applications to be reviewed inside Iraq. After promising to resettle seven thousand Iraqis here this fiscal year, it managed only sixteen hundred and eight. After promising to resettle twelve thousand in fiscal year 2008, it started off with just four hundred and fifty in October. The projected numbers are meaningless P.R., which is how the department treats the issue. Watch this State Department podcast of an interview between the department's spokesman, Sean McCormack, and Ellen Sauerbrey, the Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. Sauerbrey, a political appointee, comes off as a nice person who's completely out of her depth. Look at her expression, listen to her voice, and tell me that you think Iraqi refugees are in good hands. At one point, McCormack mentions the twelve-thousand figure, asking, "This calendar year?" Sauerbrey doesn't correct him. Is she ignorant? Deceptive? It doesn't really matter. Somehow, this twice-defeated candidate for governor of Maryland is serenely certain that "we will easily reach twelve thousand." She also explains that Iraqis can't have their applications processed in Baghdad partly because of concern for their safety during the "three to four months of waiting." And yet, a moment later, she admits that, with all of Iraq's neighbors shutting their borders to refugees, "there really is no place that Iraqis can go if they are fearful, except to find shelter in another part of Iraq." In other words: we know that you can't flee, but we're too worried about your well-being to help you where you are. Sauerbrey ends this ten-minute propaganda film with a complacent lie: "We feel such a strong moral obligation and commitment to help these Iraqis that did help us."

There are various official explanations for the delay, and they all have the smell of indifference. Bush has steadily refused to say one word about the issue. The reason isn't hard to find. "It would be as if the helicopters were flying off the embassy, except in real time, while we're claiming to be victorious," Joel Charny, of Refugees International, one of the most vocal advocates of the cause, told me. When I mentioned Steve Miska's effort on behalf of his interpreters, Charny said, "There's none of that emotion coming from our State Department interlocutors, who are mainly Ellen. The performance has been shameful. Nothing will happen until the President owns the problem. Until President Bush stands up in the Rose Garden or before an Iraq veterans' group and says, 'We have a responsibility and solidarity with people who helped us on this project, and I will make sure my Administration moves heaven and earth to help these people'--until then, nothing significant will happen."

In the early years of the war, State was the agency where you found level-headed professionals who knew what a mess the ideologues at the Pentagon and the White House were making in Iraq. But now the same institution is defacing itself with a moral black mark that history will record next to the department's refusal to admit more than a small number of Jewish refugees during the Second World War. Yesterday, a group of department officials complained about mandatory assignments to Iraq. If I were a foreign-service officer, I'd wonder instead how I could continue to work for an organization that is obstructing the effort to save our Iraqi allies from death. A few of those officers who served in Iraq and left behind friends might be asking themselves the same question.

I'm tired of writing about this. I'm sure you're tired of reading about it. I wish the Administration would do the right thing so I could stop sounding like a self-righteous scold. But the Administration is counting on the soldiers and the journalists and the advocates who have made this their cause to lose interest and move on. So we can't.

Read more posts from George Packer on his New Yorker blog.

Comments

[jbulette]

l have so much respect for mr. packer's perspectives on the war in iraq. assassin's gate was a thoughtful story that was told from a variety of viewpoints, from neocon idealogues to ordinary iraqi citizens throughout the country. his story could not have been told without the support of courageous iraqi translators. this lack of concern for us folks, iraqi, us, afghani, etc, is the defining immorality of the bush -cheney cabal. the examples are endless; lie to get into a war, too few troups that are not properly armed, lying about strategy , i.e. calling an occupation a war to free iraq. we are being led by people who precipitate war and they are supported by legions who profit enourmously by this endevor. the democrats have an opportunity to initiate a shift away from the war economy we've been in for more than fifty years. john bulette m.d.

[RogerHWerner]

If you're waiting for anyone at the top echelon in this administration to do the right thing I'm afraid you have a long wait.

[Dominick06]

Thanks for writing the piece Mr. Packer. The semi-functional State Department, under the unwatchful eye of Condi Rice needs to have some sunshine flooded on it.

Many people rated Colin Powell as a mediocre Sec of State--but compared to Rice he was a genius, and top-flight manager. At least he invested new monies in the Foggy Bottom operation.

Rice, on the other hand, goes for months without even being seen on television or quoted in the newspapers. She seems to only pop up when their is a major crisis. Then she is all over the media until it dies down--then back to oblivion. This is the worse kind of management.

From what I am told from State employees the department is at its worse moral point in years--some say even decades. They also say the latest "forced" posting in Iraq could have been easily avoided had Rice listened to some key people at Foggy Bottom--or even listen at all, they say.

[cadawa]

No surprise there. Look who is running the State Department; Cheney's dog, Condaleeza Rice.
She was the worst the National Security Advisor on record. Now she is the worst Secretary of State on record.
You should be asking why the Democrats refused to block her nomination.
The complete breakdown of US defenses that allowed 9-11 to happen rests squarely on her and Bush's shoulders. She was derilict in her duty and blatently lied to the 9-11 Commission as Richard Clarke proved to one and all.
She should have been removed and indicted not promoted.

[Boadicea]

When has any part of invading and occupying Iraq ever been about helping the Iraqi people? Ever?

It's not surprising at all that we as a country are perfectly happy to leave behind all the Iraqis who helped us. What's surprising is that anyone would have thought we'd do otherwise.

[BuckarooBanzai]

Well George... how do you feel now about the war you promoted so heavily back in the day.

I did read your book "The Assassins Gate" and I was struck by the unbelievable arrogance of you and your friends. You really felt the Americans could walk in like great blonde gods, wave their hands and the Garden of Eden would bloom again.

Well...look at the mess you made. Your guilty feelings about what you have done puts you a few clicks higher on the moral food chain that Bush or Cheney...but not much. The fact is the same arrogance is still there and you clowns are getting ready to do it all over again for Iran.

[pdlane]

The problem at State is the product of pushing out the professionals who were able to retire... while silencing those who are counting the days until they can do so and replacing them with political hacks

[LProyect]

How does George Packer get a forum on an ostensibly liberal forum such as this? It is bad enough that he is soiling the pages of a once outstanding magazine like the New Yorker. He is "critical" of the war in Iraq only because it became a failed venture. He has no principles whatsoever on the question of national sovereignty. He believes that the US is entitled to act as the world's policeman, like in Kipling's "white man's burden". The only difference between him and Hitchens is that he drinks less.

[Pneumaticus]

It's not so much disgrace at State as it is the disgraceful state of the United States, at home and abroad, and there seems to be no end in sight except kaboom we're naked and oh so cold now that we've burned down our own house.

[mari2JJ]

Just one more boondoggle only a Bush FIASCO administration is capable of. You know, there is a Right Way (RW), a Wrong Way (WW) and a Bush Stupid Way (BSW) and State has taken the BSW.

[Kansas Evans]

Sometimes, I get tired of reading about the mistakes BushCo specialize at making.

But almost every day, sometimes twice a day, the sink to a new low and recapture my attention all over again.

[UncleDave]

I read the blog,then the latest two responces. I didn't need to go any further. I would say the Lt. Col.'s own words speak of what a FUBAR Iraq has become. Because WE screw up WE need to protect and have Iraquis come HERE? That's very Neat. While americans search for jobs,lose their homes and No health care,WE are expected to take in Iraquis because.....?

[RumiSouth]

What I find troubling about the State Department, and by extension, the entire Federal branch today, is that it has been devastated by eight years of medieval patronage politics. One only gets hired or promoted by swearing fealty to King George. The corrosive effect this has had on the professional cadres within all branches of government could set this country back for a generation.

It's been said that, within a year of J. Edgar Hoover's death, the FBI experienced close to 100% turnover. An entire federal agency had to be purged, with predictable consequences, because the alternative was to allow the rot to continue.

Now imagine what it will be like cleaning up every single agency of the executive branch, and you'll see what an awful task lies ahead for the next president.

http://www.osborneink.com

[ljsfolly]

Like I have said before and here it is again, bush and cheney have worked for years to make us afraid of Iraqis. Our soldiers have gone to war and eath for them but they can't be trusted is the message we get. Also if bush lets in the people who are actively helping our soldiers when who will say he is letting in the terroists he claims reside there? We have literally thousands of illegals coming through our borders which bush and co have done not a thing to stop but if he were to let happen in Iraq the human thing to protect and aid those who have done the same for our soldiers then he has some warped version of they might be terrorists. Sad when we could do so much to help these who have risked their life anf family for a president who values no life above his and his cronies and their money.

[oldvet]

How do you say deja vu all over again?

Reminds me of SF personnel in Vietnam who helped our loyal Montagnards resettle in the US.

God bless, Lt Col Miska. I hope there are many more like him.