Safirka: An American EnvoyKent State University Press, 2000 - 241 pages Peter S. Bridges's service as an American ambassador to Somalia capped his three decades as a career officer in the American Foreign Service. Safirka, a frank description of his experiences in Somalia and elsewhere, offers pointed assessments of American foreign policy and policymakers. Bridges recounts his service in Panama during a time of turmoil over the Canal; in Moscow during the Cuban missile crisis; in Prague for bleak years after the Soviet invasion; in Rome when Italian terrorists first began to target Americans; and in key positions in three Washington agencies. In Somalia Bridges managed the largest American aid program in sub-Sahara Africa. He dealt with a postcolonial regime, hobbled both by traditional clan rivalries and by a leader who cared far less about Somalia's people and progress than about maintaining his control over that poverty-stricken, strategic - which soon erupted in civil war. |
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... cable I drafted for the ambassador's signature . The cable concluded that Khrushchev would , despite his problems , remain at the Soviet helm for the foreseeable future . Malcolm Toon , who then headed the political section ( and who ...
... cables sent to SecState WashDC tended to get over- wide distribution , both inside the Department and to other agencies . We could send " official - informal " cables , which were intended to go only to the Department desk officer , but ...
... cable for me to send to Washington , saying that henceforth I would not permit any additional Americans to be assigned to the Mogadishu embassy . Soon he had a good draft ready , and after sharing it with the heads of other embassy ...
Contents
Scholar Soldier Someday Diplomat | 7 |
From Foggy Bottom to the Isthmus | 13 |
The Moscow Hand | 26 |
Copyright | |
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