28 October 2007

"Hell no, we won't go", say civil servants

I hear that if you join the army then refuse to follow orders, you can be punished pretty severely. Of course, if you follow an order that's later shown to be wrong, you can also be punished pretty severely. I haven't heard so much about punishments for issuing unjust orders, though...

Anyway, it seems that desk jockeys are also balking at being sent to Iraq. While the article mentions possible punishments for diplomats refusing this posting, it doesn't really mention what the government will do if they can't get enough people to keep the Baghdad embassy open. Will they pull people from other, cushier posts? Start drafting armed servicemen/national guard types to fill in behind the (heavily armored and shielded) desks there? Why isn't there some munitions company working on some sort of military robot diplomacy machine?

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