Friday, October 17, 2014

US to 'right-size' embassy in Iraq but denies it will halve diplomatic staff

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff
The United States will "right-size" its Iraq embassy staff, which has grown to nearly 16,000, but contrary to a media report it will not halve its diplomatic presence there, State Department officials told NBC News on Tuesday.

Where's Osama when we need him?


"There is no consideration being given to slashing our diplomats by half," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told NBC News in response to a New York Times report.

Vicky, what is this monstrosity costing us poor Americans to operate every year and aren't we afraid of looking obnoxious?

A review process, being led by Deputy Secretary Thomas R. Nides, is looking at ways the U.S. can "right-size" its $750 million embassy and how it can shift away from contractors to local Iraqi support staff, Nuland said.

What the phuck does “right-size” mean?

"We're trying to do our best to save the American taxpayer money in the way we support our diplomatic personnel," she said.

Why start now?

The majority of the 16,000 people under the American mission in Iraq are contractors; 1,700 are diplomats.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

The New York Times story said that life has become hard for embassy personnel since the military left in December and that food formerly escorted by military escort is often delayed at the Kuwait border as Iraqis demand documentation.

Chef Bobby Flay, ever been to the embassy in Iraq? I hear Iraq's nice this time of year.

It cited a dwindling salad bar and lack of sugar and Splenda at the cafeteria
.
No salad bar? No Splenda? We're outta here!

Nuland said she had seen the story and that this was "some whining that was inappropriate ... on the part of the embassy employees, with regard to the quality of the salad bar."

Thankless embassy employees! Be grateful you got croutons!

The Times also said that U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey will step down "in the coming weeks." Nuland said Jeffrey is "on a regular diplomatic assignment. It was of a particular duration."

Besides, he misses a quality salad bar.

When Jeffrey's tour is completed, President Barack Obama will nominate a new ambassador for Iraq, she said.
"We're not at that stage yet, but this is normal and in keeping with the commitment that he made when he took the job," Nuland said.
The Times said the expansive Baghdad diplomatic buildup was seen as necessary to nurture a post-war Iraq.

Bulls**t!

However, it said, Americans are frustrated by Iraqi obstructionism and are mainly confined to the embassy because of security concerns.

It's their sand! Where do the Americans want to go...the beach? Shopping? Disney World?

The inability to interact with Iraqis makes it tough to justify a $6 billion annual operations cost at the embassy, the Times said.

Wow! Detroit, eat your heart out!

Michael W. McClellan, the embassy spokesman, said in a statement to the Times, "Over the last year and continuing this year the Department of State and the Embassy in Baghdad have been considering ways to appropriately reduce the size of the U.S. mission in Iraq, primarily by decreasing the number of contractors needed to support the embassy’s operations."

That's gonna be difficult since we've already pissed on their hydrant.

McClellan said the number of diplomats was also "subject to adjustment as appropriate."

Appropriate to whom?

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Why Pat Robertson is responsible for Ebola

By aaraujoFollow

Some right-wing Christian preachers are blaming gay marriage and abortion for Ebola as divine punishment from God.
A Baptist preacher says the biblical "End Times" are upon us thanks to a federal judge striking down a ban on gay marriage in North Carolina. According to Ron Baity of the Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., God is so angry over the decision that He's about to send something even worse than Ebola.
"You think Ebola is bad now, just wait," Baity warned during his sermon on Sunday.

However, a certain right-wing Christian preacher bears responsibility much more than any gay wedding or abortion clinic ever did.
Ebola was able to take hold and become an epidemic in Liberia because that nation virtually has no healthcare infrastructure.  Sick people with no access to doctors and clinics because there are none available.
Liberia found itself in this dire predicament because of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor.
During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). Domestically, opposition to his regime grew, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003). By 2003, he had lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. That year, he resigned as a result of growing international pressure and went into exile in Nigeria. In 2006, the newly elected President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf formally requested his extradition, after which he was detained by UN authorities in Sierra Leone and then at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden in The Hague, awaiting trial.[8] He was found guilty in April 2012 of all eleven charges levied by the Special Court, including terror, murder and rape.[9] In May he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Reading the sentencing statement, Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said: "The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting as well as planning some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/..._(Liberian_politician) 

Taylor had a influential advocate in the United States: Pat Robertson.
Robertson repeatedly supported former President of Liberia Charles Taylor in various episodes of his The 700 Club program during the United States' involvement in the Second Liberian Civil War in June and July 2003. Robertson accuses the U.S. State Department of giving President Bush bad advice in supporting Taylor's ouster as president, and of trying "as hard as they can to destabilize Liberia."[39] Robertson was criticized for failing to mention in his broadcasts his $8,000,000 (USD) investment in a Liberian gold mine.[40] Taylor had been indicted by the United Nations for war crimes at the time of Robertson's support, and was found guilty of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, slavery and the use of child soldiers.[41]
Prosecutors also said that Taylor had harbored members of Al Qaeda responsible for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. According to Robertson, the Liberian gold mine Freedom Gold was intended to help pay for humanitarian and evangelical efforts in Liberia, when in fact the company was allowed to fail leaving many debts both in Liberia and in the international mining service sector.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...

Robertson was supporting Taylor for access to gold mines.

Don't blame gays and abortion:
                  blame Pat Robertson!