Report: U.S. to slash Iraq Embassy staff
Following the recent departure of U.S. troops from Iraq, the State Department is planning to cut the number of personnel at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad by as much as half, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
"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," said embassy spokesman Michael W. McClellan.
Almost 16,000 people -- a majority of them contractors -- have made up the embassy staff. According to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, there were no preparations to slash the number of diplomats --currently at about 2,000 -- by 50 percent, but a decrease was possible.
"What we are doing ... is looking at how we can 'right-size' our embassy in Iraq and particularly how we can do more for that mission through the hiring of local employees rather than having to be as dependent as we have been in the past on very expensive contractors," Nuland said, as reported by Reuters.
She further said: "What ultimate numbers will result from this in reductions in contractors, we don't know yet. This process has just begun. But we are trying to ensure that it is rigorous and that it gets us to a much more normal embassy like some of our big embassies around the world."
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The New York Times reported on the difficulties faced by the diplomats and the contractors after the American troops left, whether it was convoys carrying food halted at border crossings or food rationing. The report also noted Iraqi government interference in the affairs of the mission, such as the requirement of the Iraqi prime minister's office to approve visas for Americans, causing delays. The Iraqis argue that they are protecting their sovereignty.
Reuters reported that discussions to decrease the size of the U.S. mission followed a breakdown in negotiations to maintain 3,000 U.S. troops as trainers in Iraq.
The Iraq War, which began March 2003, had resulted in the deaths of 4,500 Americans as well as over 100,000 Iraqis, and cost $800 billion from the U.S. Treasury. The last of the American troops left Iraq in December.