All openings at embassy in Iraq are filled
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The State Department filled all its vacant positions for the U.S. Embassy in Iraq next year and won’t have to force members of the Foreign Service to take the jobs.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other top officials settled on personnel for 252 open positions, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Rice consulted with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker and Foreign Service Director General Harry K. Thomas, McCormack said.
Fifteen of those who will be taking the jobs were among 200 Foreign Service officers who received notices that they might be compelled to help staff the nation’s biggest embassy.
The notices prompted an internal revolt followed by criticism that diplomats were unwilling to serve in hardship posts as thousands of U.S. soldiers have done. The notices in October went to 200 “prime candidates” for 48 slots still vacant after all volunteers had been exhausted for the one-year positions.
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