DUBAI (AFP) -- The U.S. ambassador to Baghdad said on Friday that foreign service officers have a duty to serve in Iraq if asked, amid an outcry in Washington over forced duty in the war-torn nation.

""As we set about this effort to staff Iraq, it's good for all of my colleagues to remember that we raised our right hands when we entered the service and we swore an oath ... to support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies,"" Ryan Crocker told reporters in the United Arab Emirates.
""It certainly doesn't mean you get to decide which fight"" to get into, he said.
""When we have truly great challenges like Iraq, our job is not to decide if we like the policy ... our commitment is to go forward and serve,"" Crocker said.
""That's, in my mind, simply a condition of service. You don't debate it, you don't argue over it. You're entitled to your own views, but ... you're under an oath to serve, and people need to just go forward and do that.""
Crocker, who was speaking on the final leg of a Middle East tour, conceded that Iraq is a ""dangerous place"" and that U.S. diplomats ""run a risk"" when posted there.
But he said they also run a risk in other places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, and backed assertions by other US officials that the situation in Iraq was improving.
""We've seen the dramatic changes over the last couple of months in Anbar (province) to the west,"" Crocker said.
""We've seen literally tens of thousands of young men who previously may have been involved in supporting anti-coalition and anti-Iraqi government insurgencies now step forward and say 'we want to fight with you and not against you',"" he added.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday made a worldwide appeal for U.S. diplomats to serve in Iraq following uproar over new rules forcing them to work there or risk dismissal.
U.S. diplomats have not been forced to serve abroad against their will since the Vietnam war era.