Vacancy: The Iraq embassy in Washington is a symptom of many Allawi problems

Michael Rubin discusses "Vacancy: The Iraq embassy in Washington is a symptom of many Allawi problems":

Iraq's embassy in Washington is a pretty quiet place these days. It has been more than a year since the Iraqi Governing Council appointed human-rights activist Rend Rahim Francke as its representative to the United States. Rahim handled her job well, pleading the Iraqi cause at universities, think tanks, on television, and in Congress and the Oval Office.

But, a year after her appointment, the embassy is quiet. Its skeleton staff seldom answers the phone or returns calls. While Iraqi embassies in Tehran, Damascus, and Paris issue visas, the Iraqi mission in Washington does not. The status of Rend Rahim is uncertain. When she spoke at the American Enterprise Institute on October 14, 2004, she asked to be identified as "former ambassador-designate of Iraq to the United States." Three weeks earlier, Al Kamen, who writes the "In the Loop" column at the Washington Post, reported that the "word is that the new ambassador to Washington is to be Kanan Makiya.... The feeling is that Makiya will give the Iraqis a more high-profile presence." But Makiya never got his appointment. Iraqi interim government officials explained that Ayad Allawi simply reneged on his pledge to announce Makiya's appointment at his press conference with President Bush. ...

Continue reading...

Posted by Andrew Jaffee at December 13, 2004 11:43 AM