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« Eggs | Main | Cutting to the chase »

September 30, 2009

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On being shown the door

By Greyhawk

Well, take this Voice Of America story:

U.N. officials say the top American serving in the U.N. mission to Afghanistan will not return to his post, following a dispute over how to handle fraud allegations in the country's disputed presidential election. ...in an e-mail to the BBC, Galbraith said he has not been fired as far as he knows.
...in conjunction with the AP's version:
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fired the top American official at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan on Wednesday after a widely publicized dispute with his boss over how to deal with widespread fraud charges in the country's presidential election.

...and you've got a glimpse of the delicacy involved in international relations as practiced in war zones. Back to the AP:

Galbraith told the Associated Press he was "surprised" by the decision and worried "insufficient attention was given to how this might impact in Afghanistan, or on the reputation of the United Nations."

"I find it quite astonishing that the U.N. would remove an official for being concerned about fraud in a U.N.-supported and U.N.-funded election," he said.

In a statement, Ban thanked Galbraith "for his hard work and professional dedication" and recognized his "important contributions."

Who advocates what? Answers to that are even less clear. If election runner-up Abdullah Abdullah is to be believed "Galbraith was pushing for things to move quickly and pushed for ballot papers to be ordered for a runoff, if needed". By itself that doesn't seem to rise to a firing offense requiring the attention of the Secretary-General - unless the UN is even more unforgiving and authoritarian than even its harshest critics would claim.

From all indications, however, on-going corruption as immediate concern seems to weigh heavier on the minds of the Obama administration than it does on the United Nations or people of Afghanistan - who would certainly like it stopped but express a much more urgent need of attention to issues like 30 Afghan civilians killed as packed bus hits bomb outside Kandahar. Perhaps connecting them to the services provided by their government might be more doable from their point of view once that sort of thing is less so.

And while we can declare corruption our own exit door, perhaps we'd do well to remember that our real options aren't to support Hamid Karzai or not, but whether to let those who set that bomb once again become the Government of Afghanistan.

From what I've heard, at least they don't tolerate corruption. (Perhaps they'll even make the buses run on time.)

(All links via the Dawn Patrol.)

*****

Update: Well then, here's another detail -

The United Nations fired its No. 2 official in Afghanistan on Wednesday after the diplomat, Peter W. Galbraith, wrote a scathing letter accusing the head of the mission here of concealing election fraud that benefited the campaign of the incumbent President, Hamid Karzai.

The story adds "With American officials increasingly accepting the idea that Mr. Karzai will be the next president despite a large number of well-documented irregularities in the election, Mr. Galbraith's stance put him at odds with both the Obama administration and the United Nations."

But we can add wrote angry letter to threw down napkin and left dinner party in a huff on the list of things we've done to fix corruption in Afghanistan.

And: could we add "went through a big scary show of 'rethinking our strategy' immediately after the elections by way of applying pressure"? Could be, I suppose. I can't be the only one who's entertained thoughts that many of the various events of the past couple of weeks are primarily intended to send Karzai a message. Whether reason #1 or not, that's certainly part of it and would explain a lot. Maybe that's worked to a degree - maybe that's why American officials are "increasingly accepting". Negotiations would be very delicate indeed if that were the case. Such times are when men of admirable, unimpeachable, and uncompromising moral certainty are best utilized elsewhere.

And another thought... would Galbraith tell "the Associated Press he was "surprised" by the decision" if he had actually been fired for writing "a scathing letter accusing the head of the mission here of concealing election fraud"? Or is the New York Times adding an extra dash of drama to the story?

Here's an excerpt from the letter the NYT has decided the public can see. What I find interesting is that according to Galbraith "Ambassadors from the US, UK, EU and NATO" all were made aware of "the greatest risk to the Afghan elections" the month prior to the elections - but any action they may have taken to prevent it is not included in the excerpt.

In coordination with the Ambassadors from the US, UK, EU and NATO, I pressed the Afghan Ministers of Defense and Interior either to secure these polling centers or to close them. The Afghan Ministers, whose continued tenure in office was to depend on the fraud, complained about my intervention and Kai ordered me to drop the matter.

What happened to the ambassadors? They were there at the start of the paragraph.

Here's an account of Galbraith's initial assignment to Afghanistan. My take away? It's a good thing the world loves us now.

Final quote from the letter:

Shortly after the elections, Kai told President Karzai that "I am biased" in your favor and that "those who are out to get you are also out to get me." When I asked Kai about this, he explained that being biased did not mean he was supporting Karzai and I accept that explanation. But, I am not sure President Karzai sees it that way. Kai also told me the "those" referred to Ambassador Holbrooke.

Maybe more civilian help isn't what we need after all.

Update - More here



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Posted by Greyhawk / September 30, 2009 7:44 PM | Permalink

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March 19, 2010


Dawn Patrol 03/19/2003
[Greyhawk]
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"Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world."

Mudville was founded in March, 2003. Our efforts to bring the thoughts, words, and deeds of milbloggers to a wider world evolved to become The Dawn Patrol in March, 2005. With today's entry we're going to reset the clock - but not re-write the history - and recreate the world as it was - on a day the world changed...

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(More front pages here.)

Updating... more to follow....

MILBOGS

Andrew Olmsted, 19 Mar 2003, Stateside: It would appear that the liberation of Iraq has begun.

Greyhawk, 18 Mar 2003, Germany: A united world could have, just maybe, brought down Saddam without firing a shot. We will never know. 19 Mar: We'll never know what a united world could have achieved... the UN could not agree on anything, the situation degenerated, and here we are. Status quo was not working. The French were too desperate for oil and trade at any cost. Well-intentioned Americans were led into the streets by Communists (and others) with an agenda. The media distorted the split. Many in America and abroad thought they could manipulate the situation to their personal gain. They miscalculated. The fire is lit.

Pontifx ex Machina, 18 Mar, undisclosed location: Rolling out the gate, the guard gets a quick "hook-em, horns" sign as we weave through the barricades. Then we're off, cruising through the desert in a battered-up SUV. On the eve of war, only one thing passes through our minds: is there going to be any appropriate music on the radio?

Lt Smash, 19 Mar, undisclosed location: Read the President's speech today. The clock is ticking.

Chief Wiggles, 22 Mar, Kuwait: The war started Wednesday morning for us right after the president gave a speech to the American people that lasted about 4 minutes. We were all very anxious for this whole thing to be either over or get it on its way.

Will, 22 Mar, en route: I am going to Baghdad to personally shoot that paper hanging son of a bitch!

Lt Smash 20 Mar, undisclosed location:
From: Public Works Department
To: Saddam Hussein
Subj: BLASTING OPERATIONS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Sgt Stryker, 20 Mar, Stateside: Iraq to File U.N. Complaint About Attack

Primary Main Objective, 30 Mar, undisclosed location I Dare Kofi to Come Get Me.

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BruceR, Flit, 19 Mar, Canada: AND SO IT BEGINS. Godspeed, Yanks. Come home safe and soon.

Andrew Olmsted, 20 Mar 2003, Stateside: The most important thing to remember over the next few days is this: the first reports are almost always inaccurate. First reports are generally submitted in the heat of battle before any real analysis can take place. Therefore, they're highly subjective, based on limited information, and rarely hit the mark. So as the first reports of 'surgical strikes' on Iraqi forces come in, it's best to take those reports with a grain of salt...

Iraqi Blogs

Salam Pax, Baghdad: The bombing aould come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. all radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn't even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack. at the moment they are re-airing yesterday's interview with the minister of interior affairs. THe sounds of the anti-aircarft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunts house...

American Blogs

Glenn Reynold's has a ton of links.

Newpapers

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Updating... more to follow....


(The Dawn Patrol's Archives are here.)



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The Mudville Gazette is written and produced by Greyhawk. Unless otherwise credited, the opinions expressed are those of the author, and nothing here is to be taken as representing the official position of or endorsement by the United States Department of Defense or any of its subordinate components. Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house.

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