Baghdad Ambassador Wants Best Diplomats

Ryan Crocker, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, has a message for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Washington Post reports today: He wants the department's best employees. "Simply put, we cannot do the nation's most important work if we do not have the department's best people," Crocker said in a memo to Rice. But in interview with the paper, Crocker said the real issue is that he simply needs more people. "The people here are heroic," he said. "I need more people, and that's the thing, not that the people who are here shouldn't be here or couldn't do it." The department's human resources office, Crocker said in his memo, also has made "heroic" efforts, but needs more support from State's top management team.