How’s That Surge Working Out?

From the fine folks at McClatchy in DC we learn that State orders flak jackets in Baghdad’s Green Zone

BAGHDAD – The dress code at the Blue Star restaurant inside Baghdad’s Green Zone now calls for vest and hat.

Flak vest and Kevlar helmet, to be precise. And it’s a good thing.

At least four mortar rounds hit inside the Green Zone about 1:30 p.m. Saturday, killing two Iraqi civilians, according to a U.S. soldier who could not speak for attribution because he’s not authorized to talk to reporters.

Meanwhile, a State Department official, after initially denying that State had ordered its 1,000 Baghdad personnel to wear protective gear, said that a copy of the order obtained by McClatchy was an undiscussable security breach.

…

While some 100 British embassy workers and about 55 United Nations personnel living in the Green Zone sleep in hardened housing, State Department personnel sleep unprotected.

Asked how State could require workers to walk around outdoors in body armor while making them sleep in unprotected quarters, the embassy official said: “I wouldn’t characterize it as being a mixed message.”

Well, the official would probably characterize it as totally stupid if he/she were allowed, but since they have been incredibly consistent in their stupidity, the message isn’t mixed.

Oh, if I might offer a little advice – when you know of the existence of the document you are being questioned about, you go with “If such a document existed it would be a breach of security to discuss it.” That’s how it’s done when you are a pro, you neither confirm or deny and you cut off further discussion of the matter. It is in your security manual, unless they have thrown the thing out.