Ambassador said no to military offers of security in Libya, officials say
By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Foreign Staff
Published: May 15, 2013
CAIRO -- In the month before attackers stormed U.S. facilities in Benghazi and killed four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens twice turned down offers of security assistance made by the senior U.S. military official in the region in response to concerns that Stevens had raised in a still-secret memorandum, two government officials told McClatchy.
Why Stevens, who died of smoke inhalation in the first of two attacks that took place late Sept. 11 and early Sept. 12, 2012, would turn down the offers remains unclear. The deteriorating security situation in Benghazi had been the subject of a meeting that embassy officials held Aug. 15, where they concluded they could not defend the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. The next day, the embassy drafted a cable outlining the dire circumstances and saying it would spell out what it needed in a separate cable.
"In light of the uncertain security environment, US Mission Benghazi will submit specific requests to US Embassy Tripoli for additional physical security upgrades and staffing needs by separate cover," said the cable, which was first reported by Fox News.
Army Gen. Carter Ham, then the head of the U.S. Africa Command, did not wait for the separate cable, however. Instead, after reading the Aug. 16 cable, Ham phoned Stevens and asked if the embassy needed a special security team from the U.S. military. Stevens told Ham it did not, the officials said.
read more here
Showing posts with label US State Department. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US State Department. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Ambassador said no to military offers of security in Libya, officials say
Considering General Carter Ham has never been afraid to tell the truth I believe he is telling it now. If you do not know who General Ham is, he spoke out about his own battle with PTSD so that he could help his men do the same. He did it way back in 2008!
Friday, September 14, 2012
President Obama honors return of Libya attack victims
Pres. Obama honors return of Libya attack victims
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE
President Barack Obama has paid tribute to Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others killed in the assault on the U.S. compound in Libya, calling them patriots who served America's ideals -- and laid down their lives for others.
Obama took part in a transfer of remains ceremony in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base, joined by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
read more here
After meeting with families of the victims, Obama watched as flag-draped cases containing the remains were carried off of a transport plane and loaded into four black hearses.Last Updated: Friday, September 14, 2012
ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE
President Barack Obama has paid tribute to Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others killed in the assault on the U.S. compound in Libya, calling them patriots who served America's ideals -- and laid down their lives for others.
Obama took part in a transfer of remains ceremony in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base, joined by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
read more here
Friday, July 17, 2009
State Dept. security chopper crashes in Iraq
State Dept. security chopper crashes in Iraq
By MATTHEW LEE (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — The State Department says a helicopter used to protect U.S. diplomats in Baghdad has crashed outside the Iraqi capital and a U.S. official says that two crew members were killed.
go here for more
State Dept. security chopper crashes in Iraq
By MATTHEW LEE (AP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — The State Department says a helicopter used to protect U.S. diplomats in Baghdad has crashed outside the Iraqi capital and a U.S. official says that two crew members were killed.
go here for more
State Dept. security chopper crashes in Iraq
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Diplomats honor Rachel Schneller who fought for PTSD treatment
June 19th, 2008
Diplomats honor colleague who fought for PTSD treatment
Posted: 07:21 PM ET
From CNN’s Charley Keyes
WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. diplomats Thursday honored one of their colleagues for demanding acceptance and treatment for the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) she developed during her service in Iraq.
Rachel Schneller received a Constructive Dissent Award from the American Foreign Service Association. She was praised for “her professional courage and integrity in speaking out publicly on the sensitive issue of the occurrence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder incurred by many Foreign Service employees returning from a tour in Iraq.”
An estimated 17 percent of people who serve as diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan develop stress-related illnesses, according to a State Department survey conducted last year.
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/19/
diplomats-honor-colleague-who-fought-for-ptsd-treatment/
After deaths in Iraq, diplomat says she feels 'all the work I did is worthless'
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Dark circles rim Rachel Schneller's eyes, an indication of the trouble she's had sleeping in the 10 months since she left Iraq.
Schneller's tour in 2005-2006 as a U.S. diplomat working with the provincial government in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was marked by tragedy and loss. An Iraqi employee she worked with was murdered in June on the way home from work. An American contractor friend was killed in September when a rocket pierced his trailer. More recently, an Iraqi prosecutor chosen by Schneller to visit the State Department for training this summer was murdered.
Since then, the diplomat says, she's had recurring memories of a nightmare in which she hanged herself from a lighting fixture in her office. "I had a deep sense that Iraqis are getting killed because of me," says Schneller, 33, an economics officer at the State Department in Washington. "All the work I did is worthless."
The war has placed deep strains on many of the 56,000 people who work around the world for the State Department. Some diplomats such as Schneller return home from the war with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Others say resources are being drained from posts elsewhere to cover the growing costs in Iraq.
"Without immediate increases of new recruits and money, Iraq could be doing long-term damage" to the State Department, says Robert Pearson, who was director general from 2003 to 2006 of the Foreign Service, the department's corps of professional diplomats.
go here for more of this
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-05-01-iraq-diplomat_N.htm
White House Downplays State Dept. Opposition to Iraq Posts
The Bush administration is working to defuse a public relations fiasco over news U.S. diplomats are refusing mandatory job assignments in Iraq. On Wednesday, hundreds of foreign service officers denounced the plans at a town-hall meeting in Washington. Video of the meeting was released on Thursday. State Department official
This is a tribute to courage. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of people and say you need help because you are just a human exposed to events so traumatic you are changed. Courage is what you are willing to do. Courage is doing it. Courage is coming out of it after. Courage is taking the next breath. It's standing up and moving one foot after another. It does not mean that you do it all the same way you did it before the event. It's doing it while your heart is still pounding so strongly your shirt vibrates with every beat. It's doing it when you feel your nerves crash inside of you playing a sick game of bumper cars until you are ready to bounce off the wall. It's doing more wondering what to do next when you can't remember what you did first. It is saying the words out of your own mouth explaining to people you are not the same and you need help, knowing that if they said it to you, you would stand there judging them. You tell them just the same knowing they may never look at you the same way they did before, think you were less than you were before, talk to you less than they did before, but you do it all the same because that part inside of you, that part that made you do what you did, go where you went, is still there and still getting you to move from here to there one step at a time.
Anyone who admits they have PTSD, a wound they did not create but trauma did, they are all courageous. Because of them, more wounded will speak out and seek help for being a human wounded by events.
Diplomats honor colleague who fought for PTSD treatment
Posted: 07:21 PM ET
From CNN’s Charley Keyes
WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. diplomats Thursday honored one of their colleagues for demanding acceptance and treatment for the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) she developed during her service in Iraq.
Rachel Schneller received a Constructive Dissent Award from the American Foreign Service Association. She was praised for “her professional courage and integrity in speaking out publicly on the sensitive issue of the occurrence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder incurred by many Foreign Service employees returning from a tour in Iraq.”
An estimated 17 percent of people who serve as diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan develop stress-related illnesses, according to a State Department survey conducted last year.
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/19/
diplomats-honor-colleague-who-fought-for-ptsd-treatment/
After deaths in Iraq, diplomat says she feels 'all the work I did is worthless'
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Dark circles rim Rachel Schneller's eyes, an indication of the trouble she's had sleeping in the 10 months since she left Iraq.
Schneller's tour in 2005-2006 as a U.S. diplomat working with the provincial government in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was marked by tragedy and loss. An Iraqi employee she worked with was murdered in June on the way home from work. An American contractor friend was killed in September when a rocket pierced his trailer. More recently, an Iraqi prosecutor chosen by Schneller to visit the State Department for training this summer was murdered.
Since then, the diplomat says, she's had recurring memories of a nightmare in which she hanged herself from a lighting fixture in her office. "I had a deep sense that Iraqis are getting killed because of me," says Schneller, 33, an economics officer at the State Department in Washington. "All the work I did is worthless."
The war has placed deep strains on many of the 56,000 people who work around the world for the State Department. Some diplomats such as Schneller return home from the war with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Others say resources are being drained from posts elsewhere to cover the growing costs in Iraq.
"Without immediate increases of new recruits and money, Iraq could be doing long-term damage" to the State Department, says Robert Pearson, who was director general from 2003 to 2006 of the Foreign Service, the department's corps of professional diplomats.
State Department employees have been reluctant to complain, Pearson says, because of a culture that emphasizes stoicism, concern about losing security clearances if they seek counseling and fears that they will be considered disloyal.
go here for more of this
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-05-01-iraq-diplomat_N.htm
White House Downplays State Dept. Opposition to Iraq Posts
The Bush administration is working to defuse a public relations fiasco over news U.S. diplomats are refusing mandatory job assignments in Iraq. On Wednesday, hundreds of foreign service officers denounced the plans at a town-hall meeting in Washington. Video of the meeting was released on Thursday. State Department official
Rachel Schneller complained she was denied coverage for medical treatment after she returned from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rachel Schneller: “I came back (from Iraq) and was diagnosed almost immediately with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and I’ve been receiving treatment for that ever since, and I think that it’s just one of those things. I mean, the more people that serve in war zones, the more people will come back with those sorts of war wounds, it’s just going to happen, it’s just one of those things. And I actually don’t regret getting treatment for it, it was just one of those things I had to do, but I have to say that absolutely none of the treatment I received for it came from the State Department.”
This is a tribute to courage. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of people and say you need help because you are just a human exposed to events so traumatic you are changed. Courage is what you are willing to do. Courage is doing it. Courage is coming out of it after. Courage is taking the next breath. It's standing up and moving one foot after another. It does not mean that you do it all the same way you did it before the event. It's doing it while your heart is still pounding so strongly your shirt vibrates with every beat. It's doing it when you feel your nerves crash inside of you playing a sick game of bumper cars until you are ready to bounce off the wall. It's doing more wondering what to do next when you can't remember what you did first. It is saying the words out of your own mouth explaining to people you are not the same and you need help, knowing that if they said it to you, you would stand there judging them. You tell them just the same knowing they may never look at you the same way they did before, think you were less than you were before, talk to you less than they did before, but you do it all the same because that part inside of you, that part that made you do what you did, go where you went, is still there and still getting you to move from here to there one step at a time.
Anyone who admits they have PTSD, a wound they did not create but trauma did, they are all courageous. Because of them, more wounded will speak out and seek help for being a human wounded by events.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Keith Ryan Suicide In Pakistan worked for State Dept.
Home / Globe / Obituaries
Keith Ryan, at 37; attaché for US Customs in Pakistan
By Bryan Marquard
Globe Staff / January 29, 2008
Growing up in Hingham, Keith Ryan held his political beliefs so strongly that he seemed like a real-life version of a popular TV character who was considerably more conservative than everyone else in his household.
"We used to kid when he was in high school that it was like 'Family Ties' - he was Alex Keaton," said Mr. Ryan's father, Bob, a sports columnist for the Globe.
His political convictions brought Mr. Ryan into a career of federal service, which ultimately led to Pakistan, where he was an attaché for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, based in Islamabad. Mr. Ryan apparently took his life, according to the US State Department, and was found yesterday in his Islamabad residence. He was 37 and was about to return home to visit his wife and three children in Silver Spring, Md.
"As anyone who has been confronted with the suicide of a family member can tell you, the only word to describe the sensation is devastated," Bob Ryan said. "We will always have questions."
click post title for the rest
Keith Ryan, at 37; attaché for US Customs in Pakistan
By Bryan Marquard
Globe Staff / January 29, 2008
Growing up in Hingham, Keith Ryan held his political beliefs so strongly that he seemed like a real-life version of a popular TV character who was considerably more conservative than everyone else in his household.
"We used to kid when he was in high school that it was like 'Family Ties' - he was Alex Keaton," said Mr. Ryan's father, Bob, a sports columnist for the Globe.
His political convictions brought Mr. Ryan into a career of federal service, which ultimately led to Pakistan, where he was an attaché for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, based in Islamabad. Mr. Ryan apparently took his life, according to the US State Department, and was found yesterday in his Islamabad residence. He was 37 and was about to return home to visit his wife and three children in Silver Spring, Md.
"As anyone who has been confronted with the suicide of a family member can tell you, the only word to describe the sensation is devastated," Bob Ryan said. "We will always have questions."
click post title for the rest
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)