Dangerous Diplomacy

Fighting to send arms to Saddam, resisting post-9/11 attempts to toughen visa requirements, struggling to keep American parents from rescuing their kidnapped kids in foreign countries, doing everything it can to shut down the Iraqi democracy movement — amazingly enough, this is the record of the U.S. State Department, an often out-of-control organization that acts at odds with our nation’s best interests more often than most Americans realize.

In “Dangerous Diplomacy,” seasoned investigative reporter Joel Mowbray explores the seldom-seen inner workings of the State Department. Relying on exhaustive interviews with State Department personnel and extensive research into State’s publications, procedures, and recent history, Mowbray reveals an astounding pattern of short-sighted and misguided policies, compounded by an ingrained resistance to self-criticism and correction.

Mowbray documents a State Department in dire need of reform — and he has helped make that reform possible by revealing here for the first time just how far State has strayed from its intended role as the primary agent of U.S. interests abroad.

Mowbray has them quaking at State as he exposes:

• How State’s obsession with global “stability” has led it to support bloodthirsty dictators (including many who would rejoice at the demise of the United States)
• State’s arms-for-tyrants program — and how it very nearly succeeded in providing Saddam Hussein’s Iraq with nuclear capability
• How State was narrowly prevented from selling valuable chemical weapons technology to Iraq in 1988 (technology that could have made a huge difference in the first Gulf War)
• State’s herculean efforts to cover up the lax visa policies that allowed the September 11 hijackers to enter the U.S. legally — while keeping those policies in place as long as possible
• The State/Saudi alliance: why State bends over backwards to keep the Saudis happy despite the Kingdom’s clear support for global terrorism
• How Foggy Bottom came to have inverted priorities, believing that the job of the diplomatic corps is to represent foreign interests in America, not America’s interests in a foreign country
• Kind words and reassurances: why that’s about all that American parents whose children have been kidnapped by foreign nationals can expect from State
• The odd story of how State was persistently reluctant to acknowledge that Saddam Hussein was gassing Iraq’s Kurds — of whom he killed 100,000
• State’s strange and long-standing fondness for brutal radical Muslim regimes
• How State’s entrenched culture promotes sycophants and punishes dissenters, making reform of the organization virtually impossible
• State’s secret contact with the government of North Korea: how it torpedoed a Bush Administration plan to aid refugees from Kim Jong-Il’s bloody regime
• Why State prevented the FBI from apprehending three members of an official Saudi delegation to the U.S., even though one member was wanted by U.S. law enforcement authorities — and two others were on the terrorist watch list!
• The Iranian democracy movement: why it soldiers on with no help from the State Department
• Reagan-era Secretary of State George Schultz’s simple test designed to remind new State employees of their loyalty to the United States — and its alarming results
• The State official who gushed, “They have wonderful senses of humor” – about the Taliban!
• How State bureaucrats convinced Colin Powell that he had no choice but to allow Yemen to receive a clandestine shipment of Scud missiles that American authorities had seized from a pirate ship (on the same day the White House announced a new policy getting tough on illicit weapons transfers)
• The head of a Muslim extremist group who was denied entry into the U.S. after being linked to terrorist activity — whereupon the Ambassador to Jordan apologized to him for the inconvenience! (After all, State had given him a visa)
• The sorry record of how State not only has declined to discipline incompetent and corrupt immigration officials who let terrorists and other criminals into the U.S., but rewarded them
• How canny diplomats in Saudi Arabia make State officials reluctant to act against their Kingdom, despite its numerous ties to radical Muslim terrorist groups
• The lobbyist, influential at State, who said of the Taliban: “They are the same sort of people that spawned William Jennings Bryan. They’re populists”
• How State has actually fought against families victimized by evil regimes who are trying to recover damages
• Why the anti-Saddam Iraqi National Congress found in the State Department not an ally, but one of its foremost obstacles
• Visa fraud: the appalling details behind the fact that between 1989-1999, only one U.S. diplomat was prosecuted for visa fraud — despite a mountain of evidence that this is a problem of immense and global proportions

“Many Americans, including particularly those who have served with pride in the State Department as I have, will read this strong indictment with a heavy heart. But there is too much here to ignore about a bureaucratic culture that has seemingly become dysfunctional in dealing with tyrannies. At the very least a major, objective, outside assessment of this role of the State Department seems in order.” —James Woolsey, former director of Central Intelligence

“What Joel Mowbray uncovers about the State Department is truly shocking. He has performed a unique and invaluable service in shining light on State’s record. Every American should heed the lessons of Dangerous Diplomacy.” —Sean Hannity, Fox News

“Pit-bull journalist Joel Mowbray was the first to reveal how the State Department rolled out the red carpet for the September 11 hijackers. Now, in his explosive first book, he digs deeper to expose State’s corrosive and corrupted culture-a culture that has coddled terrorists, tyrants, and other America-haters. If you care about national security, Dangerous Diplomacy is a must-read.” —Michelle Malkin, bestselling author of Invasion and nationally syndicated columnist

Tags: Dangerous Diplomacy, Joel Mowbray