Some of "the troops" have been sent to Iraq on four "tours":
The president appoints all ambassadors, and their boss, the secretary of state:
Quote:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...print/asection
Being There
By Al Kamen
Wednesday, December 12, 2007; Page A27
In September 2005, when President Bush swore in pal Karen P. Hughes to be public diplomacy czar, he instructed her "to marshal all the resources of the federal government to this critical mission."
Hughes frequently urged America's ambassadors "to be not only a presence, but the face and voice of America on media in countries across our world."
But based on a sampling of ambassadorial attendance records, even being a presence would be a start....
....Our diligent diplomats averaged just over eight weeks of vacation that year, led by Hoffman in Portugal, who was absent for "personal" reasons 58 days (not counting weekends and 10 days off for federal holidays), or nearly 12 workweeks. Add the holidays, and you're close to 14 weeks off.
Hoffman edged out Timken and Arnall, who each recorded 54 days -- or about 11 workweeks -- away, and Wagner, who came in fourth with 53 days. (Although a family illness may have contributed to his absences, Arnall arrived in March 2006, so if he had been there a full year, he would have recorded more than 12 weeks off.)
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Aguirre was lowest in terms of days away, recording 18 personal days off. (However, he registered the most days away on "official" business, with 29, in contrast to Wagner's 12. (It appears those official days away from post could include the customary trips to Washington once or twice a year for consultations.) Arnall led the octet in terms of percentage of total days out of town. He was absent from post about 37 percent of the time, or 114 days in 10 months. Wagner, Timken and Hoffman were each out of pocket nearly a third of the year.
Arnall, who reportedly gave or raised for Bush and the GOP more than $12 million in recent years and paid a $325 million fine for alleged predatory loan practices, looks like a good bet to retain his prime absentee-landlord status in 2007. He's been spotted in New York on occasion this year. His company sold its mortgage assets to Citigroup.
The administration declines to criticize what seems a bit of extra downtime. "The secretary and the president believe these ambassadors have done and are doing an excellent job in representing the United States," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.
And remember, they're "the Honorable" for the rest of their lives.
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The troops are upset with the "liberal traitors", now, but when they live a few more years in our wonderful republic, they may gain, in the fullness of time, and understanding or what hypocrisy and hubris are, and some of them will have a change in their politcal sentiments.