Former staffer slams diplomats in Iraq

February 8, 2008
Former staffer slams diplomats in Iraq

Manuel Miranda, a Bush supporter who just completed a yearlong tour as a senior legislative
adviser at the Baghdad embassy, skewered Crocker and his team for failing to understand the
urgency of the situation, delaying critical measures and getting stuck in institutional red tape.

Miranda listed several examples of what he regards as failures, ranging from "a near complete lack" of coordination with other agencies and the Iraqi government, withholding information, blaming Iraqis for all shortcomings, providing bad advice on legislative matters and wasting millions in taxpayers' money.

Among them was the repeated pushing of Iraqis to accept a flawed law governing the distribution of oil revenue, which he said would have been rejected as untenable by "any experienced international lawyer."