LEAD: US dismisses report on plans to halve embassy staff in Iraq

Feb 8, 2012, 23:08 GMT

Washington - The United States government Wednesday pushed back against what one official called 'funky' stories that Washington was considering cutting the staff at its embassy in Baghdad by as much as half.

'Contrary to some of the news reports, we are not reducing our operations by 50 per cent,' Thomas Nides, deputy Secretary of State for management and resources, said in a special briefing to refute the reports.

Citing unnamed officials in Baghdad and Washington, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the US government wanted to reduce the 6-billion-dollar annual price tag on operating the embassy. The story said half of the nearly 16,000 staff and contract support people, mostly security, would be cut.

Just two months ago, the US withdrew its last troops from Iraq, and Nides said the State Department would be working over the coming months to assess how to 'normalize' the embassy presence.

'I am hopeful that over the next few months, we will be able to reduce our size by reducing our dependency on contractors,' Nides said. 'We owe it to our taxpayers.'

The move will include a shift to relying on local contractors for security and food supplies. It would be 'cheaper' and make the embassy more a 'part of community,' Nides said.

He did not specify an amount of reduction being planned.

Most of the staff in Baghdad are not diplomatic personnel but security contractors. The US had hoped to bolster its diplomatic efforts following the withdrawal of its military forces, but interaction of the 2,000 diplomats with ordinary Iraqis has been limited due to security concerns.

The largest US embassy in the world was built at a cost of 750 million dollars and dedicated in 2009. Nides said the transition being planned was the 'largest transition since the Marshall Plan,' which helped rebuild Europe after World War II.

Nides insisted that the US 'robust diplomatic presence' would continue in the north and south of Iraq and in Baghdad. He noted that the withdrawal of combat troops had already reduced the US outlay for Iraq from 50 billion dollars a year to 6.5 billion dollars, welcome news at a time of huge deficits.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called stories about a 50-per-cent cut 'funky reporting' that contained 'wild guesstimates.'

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