The embassy is going to remain open, however. This is, then, another equivocal half-measure from Obama. If Sunni jihadists enter Baghdad, Americans may end up wishing he had evacuated the embassy entirely. As it is, he is hedging his bets. In any case, even a partial evacuation of this massively expensive embassy, which was supposed to be the beacon of the U.S. presence in the New, Prosperous, Stable and Democratic Middle East, is a poignant symbol instead of the failure of ill-conceived U.S. misadventure in Iraq, which was based on the assumption that Islam was a religion of peace — and on no knowledge of Sharia at all.
“U.S. to Evacuate Many Staff Members From Baghdad Embassy,” by Tim Arango and Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, June 15, 2014
ERBIL, Iraq — The American Embassy in Baghdad plans to evacuate a substantial number of its personnel this week in the face of a militant advance that rapidly swept from the north toward the capital, the State Department announced on Sunday.
The embassy, a beige fortress on the banks of the Tigris River within the heavily-secured Green Zone, where Iraqi government buildings are also located, has the largest staff of any United States Embassy.
The exact number of people being evacuated was not clear Sunday. The embassy would remain open, a person familiar with the planning said, and much of its staff of about 5,500 would stay in Baghdad. The American government is expected to call the move a relocation, suggesting that it is a temporary precaution, the person said.
Many staff members who are leaving will be flown to Amman, Jordan, where they will continue their work at the embassy there. Others will be shifted from Baghdad to consulates here in Erbil, in the northern Kurdish region, and in Basra, in the south, which are not now under threat by the militants.
Other Americans in Iraq, particularly contractors working for companies that had been training the Iraqi military on weapons systems purchased from the United States, have already been evacuated from the country….