Ambassador James F. Jeffrey, 35 year veteran of the Foreign Services and Ambassador to Iraq for the past 2 years spoke with Class 13-01, Class 12-02, and SAMS today in the Eisenhower Auditorium.
Ambassador Jeffrey is the former Ambassador to Iraq where he served in that role from August of 2010 until June 2012. Also involving Iraq, he has served as the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State for Iraq from August 2005 to August 2006, the US Charge d’affairs to Iraq from March to June of 2005, and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad from June 2004 to March 2005.
As a career member of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Jeffrey has also served as Ambassador to Turkey and Albania; served additional tours in Turkey, Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait, and Deputy Special Representative for Bosnian implementation; and even served on detail to the NSC as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor.
Ambassador Jeffrey originally hails from Massachusetts; served in Germany and Vietnam for 7 years as a US Army Infantry Officer; and is currently serving as a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute where he focuses on U.S. strategies to counter Iran’s efforts to expand its influence in the broader Middle East.
The Ambassador led with an introduction on diplomacy and foreign policy as a whole. He discussed his “Three Ms” being Military, Money, and Morality and compared them with the three Ms he learned in his military experience – Mission, Men, Me.
He continued on, referring to the US as a revolutionary transformational nation where we believe our values are the world’s values. These have been spread through other global organizations such as the UN, NATO, WTO, etc. Most countries also adhere to these values, or cultural norms, and very seldom does a “9-1-1 call” come from any of these nations. Those who do not adhere to the norms are where we see trouble.
As he transitioned into talking about Iraq he made one thing clear – “Iraq is a success for American arms and American Policy”. Much of the rest of his presentation centered around why this statement was true, yet much of the debate that surfaced in our small group discussion following the brief refuted this claim. I’d have to agree. Even Ambassador Jeffrey provides a laundry list of his worries – Al Qaeda presence, lack of military partnership, Kurdish problems, Iranian pressure, and others. Despite all this, he states we’re still holding it together, and it is a success.
The Ambassador concluded his remarks mentioning our national strategy shift to Far East yet needing a diplomatic focus on the Middle East. This will require our military to engage in “the mess” along with the State Department.
MAJ Nate Conkey, CGSC
