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U.S. to Evacuate Many Staff Members From Baghdad Embassy U.S. Plans to Evacuate Many Embassy Workers
(about 3 hours later)
ERBIL, Iraq — The American Embassy in Baghdad plans to temporarily evacuate a substantial number of its personnel this week and to increase security at the embassy in the face of a militant advance that rapidly swept from the north toward the capital, the State Department announced on Sunday. ERBIL, Iraq — The American Embassy in Baghdad plans to evacuate a substantial number of its personnel this week in the face of a militant advance that rapidly swept from the north toward the capital, the State Department announced on Sunday.
The embassy, a beige fortress on the banks of the Tigris River within the heavily-secured Green Zone, where Iraqi government buildings are also located, has the largest staff of any United States Embassy. The embassy, a beige fortress on the banks of the Tigris River within the heavily secured Green Zone, where Iraqi government buildings are also situated, has the largest staff of any United States Embassy.
The exact number of people being evacuated was not clear Sunday. The embassy would remain open, according to a statement from the department’s spokeswoman, Jen Psaki,and many of its approximately 5,500 staff members would stay in Baghdad. The exact number of people being evacuated from Baghdad — the American government prefers to say they are being “relocated” — was not disclosed. But the embassy will remain open, and most of its staff will remain, according to the State Department.
Many staff members who are leaving — the statement called it “relocating” — will be flown to Amman, Jordan, where they will continue their work at the embassy there, the statement said. Others will be shifted from Baghdad to consulates here in Erbil, in the northern Kurdish region, and in Basra, in the south, which are not now under threat by the militants. The United States has a staff of about 5,500 at the embassy and at two consulates in the north and south of Iraq.
Other Americans in Iraq, particularly contractors working for companies that had been training the Iraqi military on weapons systems purchased from the United States, have already been evacuated from the country. “Some additional U.S. government security personnel will be added to the staff in Baghdad; other staff will be temporarily relocated — both to our consulate generals in Basra and Erbil and to the Iraq Support Unit in Amman,” Jordan, Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement.
“Some additional U.S. government security personnel will be added to the staff in Baghdad,” the statement said. “Over all, a substantial majority of the U.S. Embassy presence in Iraq will remain in place, and the embassy will be fully equipped to carry out its national security mission,” Ms. Psaki added.
Last week, in quick fashion, militants seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, and then moved south and took other towns, vowing to march on to Baghdad. But over the weekend, the militant advance seemed to slow, while in Baghdad volunteers flocked to join newly reconstituted militias to defend the capital. An American military official said that fewer than 100 Marines and other military personnel had arrived in Baghdad to reinforce the embassy’s security. The embassy staff members who are being evacuated are leaving on charter aircraft or commercial flights. But the military has planes available if necessary, the Pentagon said.
In response to the crisis, President Obama has said he is weighing a range of actions to help the Iraqi government turn back the insurgents, including airstrikes or other military aid. Earlier this year, when insurgents captured Falluja and other parts of western Anbar Province, the American government rushed guns, ammunition and Hellfire missiles to aid the Iraqis, but has done little to dislodge the militants. Other Americans in Iraq, particularly contractors working for companies that had been training the Iraqi military on weapons systems purchased from the United States, have already left.
As American forces left Iraq at the end of 2011, the United States planned to significantly increase its diplomatic presence in the country by establishing several fortified outposts defended by a small army of private security guards. The Obama administration, however, soon reconsidered those ambitions, chiefly because of their cost and feasibility. Outposts were built in Basra and Erbil. Another, in Kirkuk, was phased out, and a proposed outpost in Mosul was never opened. Briefly, the embassy had about 16,000 personnel, but almost immediately after the troops left, the American government, confronted with objections from the Iraqi government, began reducing the number of embassy personnel until only a few thousand remained, to guard the embassy and oversee a weapons sales program. Last week, in quick fashion, militants seized control of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and then moved south. But over the weekend, their advance seemed to slow.
In trying to push forward with an ambitious diplomatic presence to replace the departing military, the government drew up plans, at great cost, for programs that the Iraqi government ultimately did want. Some referred to the diplomatic ambitions as the greatest American aid effort since the Marshall Plan. This included an expensive police training program, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars. In response to the crisis, President Obama has said he is weighing a range of actions to help the Iraqi government turn back the insurgents, including airstrikes and other military aid.
This year, when insurgents captured Falluja and other parts of western Anbar Province, the American government rushed guns, ammunition and Hellfire missiles to aid the Iraqis, but it has done little to stop the militants.
As American forces left Iraq at the end of 2011, the State Department planned to significantly increase its diplomatic presence in the country by establishing several fortified embassy branch offices defended by private security guards.
The Obama administration soon reconsidered those ambitions, chiefly because of the cost and feasibility. The consulates in Basra and Erbil remained open; another, in Kirkuk, was phased out; and a proposed outpost in Mosul was never opened.
After the troops left, only a small number of military personnel remained as part of an office of security cooperation at the embassy. They oversee a weapons sales program and provide limited mentoring for Iraqi forces.