[jimmy28]

If it's about building a career for the future, shouldn't that be all the more reason to avoid having his name associated in any way with Iraq or Afghanistan (or any other such predestinate failure)? I'm sure Rufus knows better than I do what the odds are of service in such areas counting for rather than against him, but you'd think that, in years to come, people involved in our Muslim-taming expeditions are more likely to be seen as an embarrassing reminder of a shameful era than as gutsy folk who volunteered for tough duty. Like a civilian Vietnam veteran.

This is leaving out the whole likelihood-of-embassy-bombings factor, which everyone else seems to be ignoring...I doubt any Green Zone will protect him. There's no wall too high for a mortar round to go over, and they've got a lot of mortar rounds over there, I hear.