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Monday, April 14, 2008
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Summer Soldiers and Sunshine Patriots
by Rich Galen
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During the heat of the unpleasantness in Fallujah two of them went there from Baghdad to see if they could bring some sanity to an insane situation. I wrote in 2004 about those two senior State Department Foreign Service Officers: They didn't go to Fallujah in morning suits and bowler hats. They went in body armor and Kevlar helmets. It was, perhaps, the bravest single act I have personally witnessed since I have been here.

In her remarks - which she specifically addressed to the younger members of the Foreign Service Corps in attendance - Ambassador Deborah Jones quoted Thomas Paine:

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

The patriots who make up America's Foreign Service Corps are, short of war, the people who accept the responsibility for projecting our nation's foreign policy to every corner of the planet.

Some get to do it in places like Paris or London. Most get to do it in places like Kampala, Uganda or Sanaa, Yemen or Dhaka, Bangladesh.

These are most definitely NOT summer soldiers nor sunshine patriots. Through every season and in all weather conditions the members of America's Foreign Service are true patriots.

Ambassador Deborah Jones is surely one of them. But she is most assuredly not the only one of them.

As has happened so often in my life, I was once again blessed to be in the presence of American heroes.

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About The Author

Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. Rich Galen currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

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(21 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: Apr 15, 2008 - 5:48 PM EST
Sharkfighter
Galen's first four paragraphs draw a conclusion that our foreign policy, i.e. the invasion of Iraq, has resulted in a change of atmosphere in Kuwait on the issue of women's suffrage.

And later Galen opines that "five years ago, the suggestion the U.S. would send a female ambassador to a Gulf state would have been laughable".

Again the implication is that Bush foreign policy, the Iraq invasion, has had a spillover effect in promoting "tolerance" of Arab regimes to female ambassadors.

It is not a stretch to conclude, given that mindset, that Galen would like the U.S. to encourage this socalled "tolerance" by selecting females to represent our nation to Arab governments.

My only point, which I still maintain, is that the selection ought to be done in terms of merit, not gender.

I have no doubt the female ambassador of whom Galen spoke so highly is eminently qualified.

I would just not want the selection to ever be done from the standpoint of making a "statement", or sending a "message", or encouraging this or that development.

It should be made on merit, period.

But I appreciate your post.

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Reply # 2
Date: Apr 15, 2008 - 1:58 PM EST
jerabaub Pt 2
jerabaub, your whole argument is based on a presumption.

Mr Galen writes about the ambassadors qualifications and makes the undoubtedly true assertion that 5 or 6 years ago a woman could not hold the post. Now a woman can, and a very competent and capable woman is going to do so. Mr Galen points out what everyone that believes in equality knows is a good sign that the first woman Ambassador to the mid-east is getting the job.

Republican Party since its inception has always believed in equality and freedom and that is what his post is about.

Nowhere does Mr Galen suggest that we should be 'Purposely staffing a woman to a Muslim nation to represent our interests, simply due to gender and in order to make some "statement",

He suggests that it is an accomplishment that the highly respected woman who has the background to represent us can get the job.

When you state that "To place a woman in such a position based exclusively or even partly on gender, simply to send some socio-politically correct half baked message, is ludicrous." I merely point out that someone reading YOUR words would believe that meant the person selected was unqualified. No where does Mr Galen suggest staffing 'UNQUALIFIED' women to the job.

If you agree, like YOU said that the best qualified person, regardless of gender, get the job and that it is good that Females can even be considered for it equally alongside males, then you agree with article.

Also notice nowhere does Mr Galen say this justifies the initial invasion. Do you find any statement in the article that supports your conclusion in your first posting?

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