The State Department has warned U.S. diplomats of possible mandatory service in Iraq next year, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Diplomats will be invited next month to bid on about 300 positions that will open up next year in Iraq, according to a cable sent to employees and diplomats in the State Department last week, the report said.

Although the next bidding cycle for worldwide diplomatic jobs does not officially begin until this summer, the State Department decided to move early on the Iraq jobs, saying the United States faces "a growing challenge of supply and demand in the 2009 staffing cycle."

As in the previous cycle, the directed assignments, which every officer agrees to upon entry into the Foreign Service, would be necessary only if the number of volunteers falls short, the report said.

The possibility of directed assignments was first raised last fall, when the State Department projected a shortfall of about 50 volunteers for positions at the U.S. embassy and other locations in Iraq in 2008.

Although those jobs were eventually filled without compulsory postings, the possibility of being forced to serve in a war zone caused deep unease at the State Department, the report said.

With more than 700 State Department personnel, the Baghdad embassy is the largest U.S. mission in the world.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2008)