Talk:Ryan Crocker

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More information about this article... The following comments have been left for this page: did cheney and bush author this? it is terribly biased. it should be factual and not spin in opinions such as "...make him one of the State Department's leading experts on Middle Eastern affairs..." to whom is this assertion attributed? and the medal, appointments, and honors seem only to come from oil and republicans. (edit)

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The "earlier served in" sentence can't be true. The U.S. has had no ambassador in Iran in the years that Crocker might have held a post of that rank. I'm going to change "as ambassador" to something like "in the embassies of."

[edit] Concerns by Data87

[edit] dead reference

White house press release written February 24, 1994 - what was the subject of this release, it is not referenced. further, it appears that it may have been intentionally deleted to remove items from democtrat administrations.

[edit] biased

Crocker's experience and his vast knowledge of Middle Eastern cultures. his "vast" knowledge? biased. let the reader come to their own conclusion based upon facts stated previously. reads as if written by his mother or by bush.

[edit] incomplete statements

After Persian language training - from whom? where? cia, college, grad school, halliburton? must be attributed as well. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Data87 (talk • contribs) 14:36, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] extremely poor quality, obviously propaganda

this is one of the worst cases of bush regime propaganda, maybe cheney himself edited this! probably should be deleted and refered to a competent author. far too much to undo. read above problems by multiple reviewers. actually gives wiki a bad name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Data87 (talk • contribs) 14:39, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I've looked at your comments starting with the dead reference--I removed the ref from the article--I'm guessing it may have once referred to his Presidential Service award as it occurred in 1994 under the Clinton administration. I've removed the statement about his knowledge of the Middle East. Have no idea where he got his Persian language training so that still needs to be sourced. I noticed that you've been griping about this since July so I'm wondering why you didn't edit it yourself. Pericles899 00:17, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

thank you for editing, i thought out of courtesy to the original author, i would leave the editing to another. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.164.149.211 (talk) 17:45, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Not Propaganda. Need help with secondary sources.

I was a bit surprised to find this page as weak as it is since Mr.Crocker is in the position that he is at this critical time in US history. I have done a small amount of research to try to bring some resource material into the article. It's also clear from the above comments that this page has the potential of becoming a black-hole for politics.

Working from this link: http://www.nndb.com/people/769/000121406/ which appears to me to be the most complete curriculum vitae for Mr. Crocker available. I would like to see these varified before being added to the page however: 1. State Department (USSD)Vice Counsel, Iran (1972). 2. (USSD)Economic-Commerical Officer, Qatar (1974-1976). 3. (USSD)Economic-Commerical Section Chief, Baghdad (1978-1981). 4. (USSD) Political Section Chief, Beruit (1981-1984) 5. (USSD) Deputy Director Office of Israeli and Arab-Israeli Affairs(1985-1987)6. Political Counsellor, Cairo (1987-1990) 7. US Ambassador to Lebanon (1990-1993), 8. US Ambassador to Kuwait (1994-1997) 9. US Ambassador to Syria (1999-2001) 10. (USSD) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs (8/2001-5/2003) 11. US Ambassador to Afghanistan (Ad Intern reopened US Embassy) 1/2002-4/2002 12. Coallition Provincial Authority Director of Governance, Iraq 5/2003-8/2003 13. US Offical Internation Affairs Advisor, National War College (2003-2004) 14. US Ambassador to Pakistan (2004-2007) 15. Us Ambassador to Iraq (2007-present).

Education: 16. University of Dublin,Ireland http://www.ucd.ie/ 17. BA English Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington http://www.whitman.edu/(1971), 18. Near Eastern Studies Princeton http://www.princeton.edu/(1984-1985)

Although the concern with the word "vast" as noted by Data87 above, may be inflated, it appears to me to be close to the truth. His experience of more than 35 years in the diplomatic corp directly in the mideast, and in particular having retained his position through 5 presidents (Carter/Reagan/Bush Sr./Clinton/Bush Jr.)can't be described as less than substantial. As described by the New York Times as "one of the State Department's most experienced Middle East hands and a fluent Arabic speaker" (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/ryan_c_crocker/index.html)any denial of Mr. Crocker's experience can only be considered politically motivated.

I have made a minor effort to verify his early life as a child including the locations in the Mideast that he lived in as child of an Air Force Officer. I have not been able to find anything on the subject. His wife was apparently a former USSD secretary and was, according to the Washington Post (article already linked on the page) present when a Suicide Bomber struck a building they were both in, in Beruit on April 18, 1983 (64 people were reportedly killed in suicide bombing). That article also appears to be the best source for much of the information about Mr. Crocker. Some of his personal information including his considerable experience as a marathon runner can be added to the article if it can be verified by a second source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Econofire (talk • contribs) 13:43, 15 March 2008 (UTC)