WASHINGTON — It wasn’t quite “Hell no, we won’t go!”

But it was close. The usually staid corridors of the State Department erupted yesterday with the sounds of a diplomatic revolt over a management decision to force Foreign Service officers to take jobs in Iraq under threat of dismissal.

With some likening it to a “potential death sentence,” several hundred American diplomats vented anger and frustration at the largest diplomatic call-up since Vietnam. In a contentious hour-long “town hall meeting,” diplomats faced off with officials behind the order that will require some to serve at the embassy in Baghdad and outlying provinces. Many expressed serious concern about the ethics of sending diplomats against their will to work in a war zone — where the embassy staff is largely confined to the protected “Green Zone” — as the department reviews use of private security guards to protect its staff. “Incoming is coming in every day, rockets are hitting the Green Zone,” a senior Foreign Service officer who once worked as a political adviser with NATO forces, Jack Croddy, said.

He and others directly confronted the Foreign Service’s director general, Harry Thomas, who approved the move to “directed assignments” late last Friday to make up for a lack of volunteers willing to go to Iraq.

“It’s one thing if someone believes in what’s going on over there and volunteers, but it’s another thing to send someone over there on a forced assignment,” Mr. Croddy said. “I’m sorry, but basically that’s a potential death sentence and you know it. Who will raise our children if we are dead or seriously wounded?”

His remarks were met with loud and sustained applause from the approximately 300 diplomats at the meeting.

Mr. Thomas responded by saying the comments were “filled with inaccuracies” but did not elaborate until challenged by the head of the diplomats’ union, the American Foreign Service Association, who, like Mr. Croddy and others, demanded to know why many learned of the decision from news reports.

Mr. Thomas took full responsibility for the late notification but objected when AFSA’s president, John Naland, said a recent survey found only 12% of the union’s membership believed Secretary of State Rice was “fighting for them.” “Sometimes, if it’s 88 to 12, maybe the 88% are correct,” Mr. Naland said.

“88% of the country believed in slavery at one time, was that correct?” Mr. Thomas, who is black, shot back in a remark that drew boos from the crowd. “I am insulted,” Mr. Thomas added.